My Brother's Body
by Piano'sIrishTater
Summary: Lovi and Feli are twin brothers, and are quite the opposites in many ways. But when they switch places with each other out of nowhere, they find that they have one thing in common that they never suspected they could.Spamano & GerIta.
1. A Spaniard and Pizza

Okay. Sunlight beaming. Grass swaying. Breeze shifting. Crowd cheering. For _me._ For once, I was the star, and I would do anything to keep that status. As the referee blew his whistle, my eyes shot open to stare at the keeper, who was shifting with impatient readiness, and I took off running, eyes now only on the ball before me. With the most forceful, yet accurate, shot I could muster, that same ball flew like a torpedo, only to be scooped up in the net behind the stunned man who had been guarding it.

We had _won._ Because of _me._ If I wasn't a man, I probably would have burst into tears right then and there, but even if I had wanted to, I was swarmed by my sweat-smelling teammates before I could even react. They grabbed me from all sides, congratulating me, patting me on the back, even smacking my butt and giving a form of victory screech. I was frozen in shock inside the team's embrace. My head spun once, sickeningly, nauseatingly. I held my ground, stomach reeling in excitement. The buzz died down after a few minutes, when we had to tell the other team "good game." We did so and when we were all back at the sidelines, the coach made an announcement.

"Since this is the first game that this team has ever won and the fact that I just got paid, I've decided to take you guys out to pizza and ice cream!"

The boys let out a bunch of whoops and started excitedly to chat amongst themselves as they started for their cars.

Only one (smart) guy decided to ask, "Hey, Coach, where exactly are we going?"

That stopped us dead in our tracks and we laughed at our idiocy and eagerness.

"Hmm, anyone object to Pici's? Good!" he said, not giving anyone time to answer. "And after that we'll go to Fraum's! Okay, you may proceed. Those of you who can't drive or don't have a ride, you can come with me or find a ride fast."

I watched as everyone slowly drove away, anxious over a thing as trivial as a reward for winning. Even though I had won it, they still cared more about the food than anything else. That was teenagers for you. When it appeared everyone had gone, I strolled over to my little red Dodge Stratus that looked so lonely when the parking lot was deserted. With a sigh, I took my key out of my pocket and unlocked the door. As I was about to step inside, I heard a strange noise behind me, and I turned to find a tall, dark haired boy looking at me with huge, nervous emerald eyes.

"GAH!" I shouted in surprise.

He recoiled, stepping back in shock of my random outburst.

"Wh-wha-what the CRAP? Dude, you scared me!"

He blushed and muttered, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that! It's just… well…" he looked pointedly at the empty lot, "It seems like everyone else left and… I need a ride to Pici's…"

That was the first time I noticed what he was wearing. He had on the school soccer jersey, which was lime green and light blue. (Yeah, yeah, those were the school colors.) He was also carrying a backpack which had been handed out to each of us by the coach at the beginning of the year. His cleats were a very dirty black and his socks were a strange… orange. I had no doubt this kid liked his colors. Also, he had been on the team the whole year and I had never noticed him.

"How come I've never seen you before…?" I asked, suspicious. I imagined he was some kind of stowaway or spy for the other team. Don't believe me? It's happened.

He shrugged. "Maybe you just never paid attention to me. I guess I do sort of… blend in with the others."

He had to be lying! I was sure I knew every single person on the team by heart! And how the hell could I not notice some guy prancing around after a ball in vibrant, neon orange socks? That was something that could NOT be ignored! "That's doubtable. If you had been on the team, I would have noticed you from your insane colors." I pointed to what I meant.

He blushed a little, but continued to try and convince me he'd been here. "C'mon, you have to believe me! I know your name, Lovino! Maybe it's because I'm a Senior and you're a Junior?"

With a pained growl I asked, "Okay fine. Whatever. What's your name?"

"Antonio."

"Then go ahead and get in, Antonio. I'll bring you to the pizza place, but you'll have to get your own ride to Fraum's and home, because I'm not staying."

Antonio had started to get into the car, but paused at this. "You aren't staying? Why not? It's your party! You won us the game!"

I had gotten in the car already, but looked up at his half-way- in frozen figure with surprise. How did he know that I was angry? That I was upset that all the guys cared about was the party that deserved to be mine? It was like he had read my mind and exposed all my feelings.

"No… I'm not staying… I-I don't like pizza…" I lied. I ran a hand through my dark brown hair and looked straight ahead.

Finally, he completed the task of sitting down. He turned to look at me, his eyes all soft, and gave me a dazzling white smile. "Well, whether they say it or not, all of our teammates are grateful for what you did. Including me. I never imagined we'd win a game, but you did it! So… thank you, _amigo._"

I had no idea what to say to this random kid with the insane socks who appeared out of nowhere spouting crazy crap, so I just made a mumble noise and drove the two of us to Pici's. It wasn't far from Brazen High, so it wasn't very long until we were sitting in the parking lot of the place. Antonio wasn't getting up for some reason, so I cleared my throat. Still no response.

"Um, hello? We're here."

After half a minute of silence, he turned to look at me, slightly pouty. "Are you sure you don't want to come in? It'll be fun!"

I glared at him with an impatient huff. "I told you I don't like pizza, damn it, and I don't even know you, so how about you just go find your other Senior soccer buddies and gorge yourself silly on cheese and dough?"

His eyes saddened even more with my words. "I don't have any friends. And I wanted to get to know you… please? It's not like you have to eat pizza! Just hang out with your friends and laugh with them! Talk with them, force them to acknowledge that YOU won them their pizza!"

This guy would NOT get off my back, would he? Nope, he wouldn't leave my freaking car until I agreed to go. "FINE!" I gave in, "but only for a little while. And I don't have any friends either. Just people who tolerate me when I do stuff that they like. That's all they are. True friends don't exist." I hopped out anxiously.

Antonio was next to me in a second and we walked in together, me almost wanting to kick him for smiling like that.

The place was packed, of course, though mostly with our team. We told the lady at the front we were with them, which she believed due to our ragged, grass stained appearances and we were given our plates. Antonio sped past my slowness to get to the buffet. I could barely believe it when he snatched up one of each kind of pizza (which was about six slices) and continued to stick pasta and those weird brownie things on his dish as well. Before I had even reached the pasta part, (I was Italian, pasta was my thing) he had already sat down and devoured half the pizza and all of the noodles.

By the time I had retrieved all I wanted and sat across from him, the rest of the pizza had disappeared and all that was left was his brownies. I stared in disbelief as he sucked up all three brownies, one right after the other, without so much as chewing or breathing.

"What the hell? Are you a vacuum cleaner?" I gasped as he grinned again.

He let an awkward laugh escape and looked at me shyly. "I was a little hungry… I forgot to eat breakfast this morning!" Another laugh spilled out, though it seemed forced and he actually looked… embarrassed.

It made me wonder… "What about lunch? Did you eat lunch?"

He paled slightly at my words. "O-of course I did! They serve lunch right at school, so why would I not have?"

I didn't believe a word coming out of this Spaniards mouth. "Uh-HUH. Really? Then you must have worked up quite an appetite at that soccer game. What did you do exactly?"

His fake smile shifted into a slight frown. "I warmed the bench, _como siempre."_

That alerted me right away. Antonio was poor and starving, as much as he didn't want to admit it. Maybe he slipped into an extra soccer jersey and took an extra bag when he heard we were having free food..? But then where the hell did he get those _socks?_ Nobody had anything that resembled those in the least. As I puzzled over this, I shoveled the pasta into my mouth and stared him down across the table. Under my gaze, he shifted and squirmed, not ever looking directly at me. So he knew that I had figured it out?

Then I realized the best way to figure out if he was _really_ on the team or just faking it. For his sake, I hoped I just had an incredibly elaborate blond moment. I stood up, confused eyes watching my every move. As I started to walk over to the coach, I heard him stand up and follow behind me, asking what I was doing under his breath.

"What does it look like?" I muttered as I finally reached my target. "Hey, Coach."

He turned around and smiled at me. "Hey, there's the hero! How you doing, sport?"

"Fine, fine. Hey, Coach? I just wanted to know if this guy was on the team." I pointed to Antonio, who was blushing red behind me.

I was shocked inside as he spotted Antonio and smiled a knowing grin. "Ah, yes he is. He just came today! I was going to have him introduce himself earlier, but it was almost the end of class… Hey, everyone! Listen up!"

They all became silent under the coaches mighty shout. "This here is a new member of our team! Go ahead," he said to Antonio, "and introduce yourself!"

And he was shoved in front of me, all eyes on him. "_Hola_! I'm Antonio Carriedo. I'm an exchange student from Spain… nice to meet you all!" He gave them the charming smile he had given me earlier.

There were shouts of "hellos" and "sups" from the group of teens. They all seemed to take to him well, all smiles and everything. They hadn't been as friendly with me, as I could recall. Of course, I could never produce a smile like that, nor be as charming.

"Hey, Tony!" a guy from the group I recognized as Jeff called. "Come sit with us, eh?"

"Of course! But…" he turned and looked at me. "Can Lovino come as well?"

The boys all looked at each other and then back at me, smirking. I'd never felt so damn insulted. "Why would I want to sit with those bastards anyway? I didn't even want to come to this freaking thing!" I yelled as I stormed out the door of the place, completely forgetting my pasta in the process.

Secretly, I hoped that Antonio would ditch them and follow me, but I doubted that would happen. Just in case, I snuck a look behind me. He looked distressed and seemed to be angrily speaking with the guys, but made no move to attempt to come. What did I need him for anyway? Did I really actually believe he was different then all the rest of those idiots? Why had I thought he could be my first true friend? As I got to my car, I reached for the key in my pocket. Or not. I reached in the other pocket. Oh no. I searched all my pockets frantically, coming up empty. Feeling defeated, I stared in through my car window at the key in the ignition that I had switched to off, but had somehow forgotten to retrieve.

"FUCK!" I screamed as loud as I could, as a mother and her small child walked by. I received a prompt smack and an order to "wash my mouth out." In anger, I slammed my head repeatedly against my stupid car's window. Stupid, stupid, stupid CAR! And not only had I forgotten my key, I had also left my cell phone in there, assuming that I wouldn't be in the restaurant long. I felt my eyes well with tears, and I sank to the curb, losing any composure I had previously had. "Why damn it? WHY?"

I heard footsteps walk behind me, but didn't think about it. The only thing that made me turn in shock was the soft, "You'll be okay, _amigo," _and the hug from behind that went with it.

I gasped and struggled out of his way too intimate embrace. "Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing?" I felt self-conscious in more ways than I ever thought I possibly could. But not uncomfortable…

"You needed that and you know it."

"N-no I didn't! Why aren't you in there laughing it up at me with the rest of those ass-"

Before I could spit out the "holes" part, he covered my mouth and made a chastising noise. "Where did you get that mouth? And I'm not in there because I belong with you. You're my true friend."

He took his nasty pizza flavored skin off of me so I could spout, "I cuss because I want to! And we just met today! How can we be friends already?"

"True friends don't need time to recognize that they are friends. They just fit together, like pieces of a puzzle and flow naturally." His words made him sound like an old man.

I grouched, "How would someone who has never had friends know something like that, huh?"

He smirked. "When did I ever say I'd never had friends? I just said I had no soccer friends. I actually have two very good ones!"

"Speaking of soccer, why did you lie to me? You said you'd been here all year, but you just came today. So, what was up with that?"

His answer was simple. "I didn't want you to think too much about it. Also, my friend, I didn't just come to the school today. I've been here since the beginning of the year. But I just got into soccer, because I don't think Home Economics suits me very well!" He laughed again.

I had to agree, he didn't look much like a guy who did any sewing or much other home stuff. I gave a sigh and decided to get back to the serious matter at hand. Me being locked out of the stupid car. "Hey, Antonio? Do you have a cell phone I could borrow?"

"_S__Í, _I do! Uh, but it's not very… nice." He dug in his pocket, retrieving a bulky black thing.

With an impatient grumble, I asked, "Does it work?"

Antonio laughed and nodded. "It does!"

I began calling the only person I had to call. My twin brother, Feliciano. He was at home, which was where the spare key was, hanging on the key rack. I pressed the talk button and prayed that he would answer, though this number wasn't familiar. Just when I was about to get frustrated and throw the damned phone on the concrete, he picked up with his normal idiotic greeting.

"Hellooo! This is Feli!"

"Feli, what the hell did I just get through telling you yesterday about answering the phone like that? You could have creepers all over you!"

"Whaaa! I'm sorry, _fratello! _"

"Ugh, whatever. Listen, could you get my spare car key from the rack? I locked my freaking keys in my car and I need your help!"

"Hey, Lovi? Why aren't you calling from your own phone?"

"FELICIANO THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT! PLEASE GET THE STUPID KEY AND MEET ME AT PICI'S!" I screamed, annoyed by his A.D.D.

He gasped. "You went to Pici's without me? Llloooooovvvviiiiiii! You know I love pizza and I really love pasta!"

"Jeez, I'm sorry! I'll bring you some other time! But now can you please just get the key?" I had to practice patience with him, even if he was annoying me to death.

"Okay! I'll be there in a second!"

I slammed the phone shut and handed it back to its rightful owner. I could feel my eye twitching, but I wouldn't be able to stop it even if I tried, so I just rubbed my temples. Antonio patted my back, trying to comfort me in my anger. It helped marginally, but when Feli showed up, I was probably going to kick his sorry little ass for all the stalling.

Apparently, a second translated to almost half an hour to my idiot brother, so we sat there in the cold forever until he finally showed up in his stupid red convertible-thing, my spare keys in hand.

"_Fratello!_ I got the keys! I got them!" He practically tripped over himself running up to us. "Oh, _ciao!" _he said as he spotted Antonio. "I'm Feli, Lovi's twin brother!"

"I'm Antonio! I'm your brother's new friend from soccer! Pleased to meet you!"

I attempted to ignore it as they both started to get all excited and start blabbering about something that was seriously unimportant. I snatched the keys from my brother's hand, which he barely noticed, since he was so distracted by Antonio and his stupid charming self. With a forceful shove, I unlocked the car and got in, started it up, and started driving away. As I passed a very surprised looking Spaniard, I called, "Why don't you have my brother drive you home, since you two seem to get along so well!"

With round eyes, he shook his head and ran up to my car. "No, no, no! I do like your _hermano _but I'd much rather ride home with you! I'm sorry if we got to talking and… well, he just drove away, waving good-bye so I actually kind of need you… if you would? Please?"

I was definitely going to beat Feliciano. He would DIE tonight! First going all A.D.D and next just leaving me to deal with this guy? "Fine! Get in!" I spat, putting venom in my words.

He ignored my heavily acidic tone and climbed in hastily, smiling that smile all the way. "Thank you very much!"

"Where do you live?"

Antonio paled for the second time that night at my words. "Uh, w-what?"

"I asked where you lived. You know, since I'm bringing you home and all? God, do I have to spell it out?"

His face squidged like he was thinking really hard. "I live… I live in Wind Estates. On Breezy Street."

I started driving, knowing exactly where the middle class neighborhood was. Something was definitely up with him having to think so hard about where his home was. I didn't believe that he even lived there, not in the slightest. But what choice did I have? I had to do something with this guy! So I took him to where he claimed to live and stopped in front of a two story gray bricked house that was very well decorated when he said to.

"Home sweet home," he chuckled as he hopped out of the car. I watched him as he walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

There was no way I was leaving without knowing this actually was his house. N-not that I cared about him or anything! I just wanted to be sure… A small girl answered the door, looked excited, and pulled him in by his sleeve. Before disappearing into the place, he turned to me and waved. I blushed suddenly, embarrassed that he had known I was checking up on him. As I drove away, I started to think that scene over and over in my head. That little girl had been about five or so but had looked nothing like Antonio. In fact, she didn't have any of the Spanish features of him at all.

Then again, he was an exchange student, so he was most likely living with a family that wasn't his… but that would mean he should be living with a family that had a child in High School. Then again, I didn't know that that wasn't just the little sister of the teenager… Ugh why was I even so caught up on this? I tried to force all thoughts about my new…friend… away from my mind as I drove to my house, which was only about eight minutes away from his by car. When I walked in the front door, I was mauled by my overly energetic little brother, who was already apologizing and begging for mercy. So he knew I'd be mad, huh?

"I'm sorry, Lovi! Don't hurt me! WHAAAA!" he cried into my shirt.

"I'm not going to hurt you! Feli, you're so annoying! Why'd you leave me with that damn Spaniard? I was going to make you take him home!"

"_Ve~, _he wanted to ride home with you! He told me so! I thought I'd do you both a favor, since he's your first friend and all!"

This made me redden and I almost slammed his face into the floor. Almost.


	2. What's Up With the Socks?

Lucky for him, I wasn't in the mood to beat him up. "Fine, whatever…" I grumbled as I ambled past him into my bedroom.

The second I entered the room, I collapsed on my bed wearily, trying not to think too much about my messed up day and the jacked up things that had been in it. With a sigh, I lay down on my fluffy pillow and closed my eyes… The next thing I heard was Feliciano singing something high-pitched and annoying as loud as he freaking could. I groaned and looked at my clock, surprised at how hungry I was.

Ho…ly… shit. I was going to be so damn late!

I sprinted to my door, heart pounding in my anxiety, opened it, and smacked face first into my singing twin. I took in his "ready for school" appearance and felt violent anger well inside me. "Damn it, Feli!" I cried, grabbing his arm fiercely. "Why the hell didn't you wake me up?"

"Sorry, Lovi!" he sobbed. "I was going to let you sleep! You had a rough day yesterday and I thought you might want to rest a little… I'm sorry!"

"Ugh, I don't have time for this!" I hissed, throwing him down (which I felt a little bad about) and spazzing around the house to get all my school junk together.

I was in the midst of brushing my hair and teeth at the same time when I heard the garage door open and listened, livid, as my stupid brother drove away to school, forgetting (like every other day) to close the door behind himself. With a sigh, I finished my bathroom business and ran to get my backpack, planning out in my head how my day was going to work as I walked by the clock. If I hurried, I could make it there with seconds to spare, though that involved skipping breakfast, which really sucked. My stomach was already twisting in on itself from my lack of a proper dinner the night before and I was light-headed, but if I was late again… I groaned and tore through the house as fast as I could, getting in my car and backing out hectically, then pressing the button to make sure it was closed.

Ugh, being the responsible one was a load of crap.

I sped down the road, not paying as much attention to my surroundings as I probably should have. Somehow, I managed to make it to school without getting pulled over by the cops, killing anyone, or being late, which, in my book, made this day already much better than yesterday. Or at least it was, until I went running through the hallway, trying to make it to class, and pretty much plowed over a random girl.

"Hey, what the fu…" I started, pissed off, until I spotted a boy with dark brown hair and concerned green eyes picking up my roadkill. "Antonio?" I was incredibly surprised, seeing how not once had I EVER seen him in the hall before. So now, after we had become "friends", I was going to see him every day? What the hell was wrong with this world?

After making sure his friend was alright, (it turned out that "girl" had actually been a man. The voice was quite a shocker) he turned to me and gave me one of those smiles of his. "Good morning, Lovino! I see you're in a bit of hurry today!"

His blond, female-looking friend scoffed at this. "That has to be the understatement of the century, _mon ami."_

If it had just been me and this French guy alone, I would've flipped him off and said all kinds of things to him, but how could I do that with Antonio smiling at me like a saint? So I just decided to answer the Spaniards greeting, instead of kicking some gay ass.

"What, and you aren't? Don't you have, you know, SCHOOL to go do? I mean the bell is going to ring in like-"

I was cut off by the late bell, ringing shrilly for everyone to hear.

"God damn it, not again!" I spat and ran into the classroom that the three of us had been standing right next to.

Of course, my teacher had already marked me absent.

The rest of my day went as horrible as every school day was for me. Every single fucking hour, something bad happened to me that made me want to just hide in my room forever. I was regretting not taking my stupid brother's advice and sleeping like he had suggested. By the time lunch came around, I felt nauseated and ready to puke I was so starving. In fact, I wasn't much of the "wait in line" type of guy, so when I wanted lunch this bad, I was going to get it, and get it now.

Trying to remain unnoticed, I slipped in between two guys that, luckily, didn't even realize I had cut in front of them. Yeah, they were too busy being stupid ass high school kids and hitting on the girls behind them to see anything clearly. The two girls, however, DID see me, and promptly started giggling, making the guys think it was because of them. I watched from the corner of my eye at the ridiculous display. Suddenly, I had an inexplicable feeling and I looked away from the flirting to find three other boys laughing their butts off in front of me.

First, I noticed the effeminate man from this morning, his blue eyes mischievous, and I felt unnerving anger well inside me. Next, I saw a guy who hadn't been there earlier, with grayish-white hair and shocking red eyes, and lost all the ferocious feelings inside my body. Then, finally, I spotted Antonio, his eyes crinkled with laughter, a light blush across his lightly tanned skin, and felt a new feeling blossom, which I promptly tried to stifle. I felt warmth creep across my face and prayed to God that he didn't turn around and see me there.

But apparently, God wasn't on my side today, because the moment I uttered those words to the Lord, smiling green eyes looked down on me. "Lovi!" he said, shocked, though seemingly pleasantly surprised.

I stared, speechless, at the fact that he'd just used my nickname instead of his usual "Lovino". He stared right back, grinning happily, as his red-eyed buddy asked who I was.

"The awesome me wants to know who that guy is!" Is how he mysteriously put it.

"Francis, Gilbert, this is my friend, Lovino, the boy I was telling you about yesterday! Lovino, these are my best friends Francis and Gilbert!" He seemed overly thrilled that we were all meeting.

I just felt nervous as hell. New people weren't my thing, since I had always been more of a recluse. My shyness made me cranky, and I scowled at them all, just wanting to be left alone to eat. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just glared at the trio, pissed.

"Why, Antonio, I think that he's broken!" the stupid French bastard Francis exclaimed.

I wanted to slap somebody or something when Antonio's forehead actually crinkled in worry at the statement.

"I'm not fucking broken, damn it!" I hissed, wondering why the lunch line wasn't moving in the slightest.

Then I realized it was because these idiots weren't moving. They were blocking the line, so I did what I did best. I slid in front of them and turned my back on their annoying selves. Stomach on the brink of explosion, I grabbed some food, paid, and ran away before they could even register what was happening. I found an empty table and sat down, ready to go to my happy place before Feli showed up. We always ate lunch together, even if I never wanted to. It was a good thing he was my brother, otherwise I would have hated him. I got approximately point two seconds of me time before I heard him find me.

"Lovi~!" he yelled across the cafeteria as he spotted me.

What I did to be "blessed" with such a twin, I had no clue. But said boy ran up to the table and sat down next to me, already blabbering about nonsense I didn't care about. Eating lunch with him wasn't so bad, because when I had food (it was spaghetti today) it was easy to ignore the pointless things that came out of his mouth. So I thought about how unfortunate my life had been recently, how mysterious things had kept in happening, such as Antonio now showing up every- freaking -where I was, how much I didn't like his best friends.

"…so I was wondering if I could have some money?" I tuned back into Feli in time to hear that.

Since I hadn't been listening, and considering how it was him I was talking to, I didn't even have to ask what the question was to know my answer. "No."

His amber eyes got all watery and he, as usual, started harassing me. "Please, Lovi? How am I supposed to get him a present if I don't have money?"

"Get a job, damn it." I stood up, ignoring his pleas, having finished my lunch, and went to throw out my trash.

On my way to the garbage can, I spotted the trio, lunch in front of all of them. All but one. I paused mid-trash throw to stare as Gilbert and Francis gave Antonio little pieces of their lunches, such as the garlic bread. It was confusing to me, perplexing. Couldn't they see he was starving? They were laughing and joking, eating their spaghetti like greedy little kids, while Antonio pretty much sucked his bread down, licking his fingers until there was nothing left to lick, all the while smiling and laughing with his friends.

It made me feel sick. I knew that I had to do something. So, naturally, I got back in the much shorter lunch line and got another tray, spending the little money that I myself had. Then I headed back to the table and blushing fiercely, I slammed the tray down in front of Antonio, scaring the crap out of him and gave him a simple command.

"Eat."

He stared up at me for a second, confusion written all over his face. It didn't take long for my demand to settle in his head though and he smiled, making my heart jump, causing me to realize how worth it this really had been. "_Gracias, mi Salvador!_ But aren't you hungry? I don't want to eat your lunch…"

"I already ate. I bought this for you." I made eye contact with his two friends, who were watching me and smiling in a very not friendly manner. "You call yourselves best friends? You better fucking treat him better or I'll kick your sorry asses, you bastards!"

I hadn't wanted to sound like his boyfriend or something, but the second the words slipped out, I realized that was what it had seemed like. My face was on fire in my embarrassment and I turned away, stomping off. I was fairly certain I heard the Spanish words, "_Muchas gracias, mi amor…" _drift through the air, but I shook it away, putting it off as a trick of my mind. When I was finally back at the table where Feli sat, still eating his pasta, I dared to turn around and found Antonio doing exactly what I had told him to. I heaved a sigh of relief that, thankfully, my brother didn't hear and watched him eat the rest of his lunch.

The next class the two of us had together, and unfortunately I had no idea HOW I had ended up in this class at all, but here I was. Parenting class. Seriously, I hadn't chosen electives because I hadn't cared what I was in, but did it really have to be the class where you had to learn how to care for a BABY? God, did I even seem like the kind of person who wanted to have loud, smelly, whiny midgets around me? What was worse, the boys had (weirdly) outweighed the girls by one, so I ended up with a guy as my partner. One that wasn't my brother.

The only thing lucky about this class for me was that my partner was a very quiet, sensible guy who didn't blab my ears off and did his work. His name was Arthur, and though occasionally he would speak to me, he was mostly in his own world, doodling while the teacher talked about pregnancy and babies and all that junk. That was fine by me, since I was the same way, minus the doodling. I couldn't draw to save my life.

Today, we were actually getting the chance to take care of our own baby, which the teacher seemed overly excited about. She had chosen a specific doll for each group by its personality, she told us, and that she had named them all the same way. I just thought she was a nutcase that belonged in an asylum, but everyone else seemed rather pleased by that. Did they not realize baby dolls didn't have personalities since they were inanimate? My sigh was almost a growl as she announced the names of me and Arthur. We got up, both heavily annoyed by this dumb project, and received our baby. She handed it straight to the Brit, which I was very thankful for.

"Okay," the teacher announced. "Lovino and Arthur's baby is a little girl named Angel. Though she has this name, her personality is quite far from it! She's more like a little devil, always crying and throwing fits, constantly hungry and loud! This is going to be a big challenge for the two of them and hopefully it will motivate them a bit more," she said with a grin of pure evil.

"What?" Arthur gasped, taking the word right out of my mouth. "You gave us a bloody loud, whiny baby?"

She continued to grin and nodded. "That's right! Hopefully it will teach you responsibility and that slacking off isn't going to be allowed in the real world. Alright, next!"

As if today couldn't have gotten any freaking worse. Now here we were, holding this stupid thing that was already crying its eyes out and being annoying as hell. I knew by the end of the week, this dumb doll would be no more.

After that class ended, I got the baby, seeing how the "father" figure had to have it the first night for some reason. I was just glad that I was seen as the man. Of course, I didn't even think to realize how un- dignifying it would be to bring a shrieking baby doll into soccer practice, so I just waltzed right into the locker room, carrying the thing in its carrier. First, all the guys looked up from their lockers in surprise at me, then they all burst into psychotic laughter at the fact that I was carrying around a baby.

"D-Dude, you're such a pussy! Who takes that class?" One guy shouted through his gut-wrenching chuckles.

At that comment, I just lost it. I didn't even have time to think to control myself. My day had sucked royally in every way, and I had just been looking forward to a nice game of soccer to cheer me up, but this fucking bastard had ruined it, and he would pay. I dropped all of my stuff onto the ground, which caused the dumb doll to wail, and I punched the guy right in the face, hearing a satisfying crack and shriek of pain through my rage.

"Lovi!" A voice called, worried. My mind didn't recognize it. I was too lost in my own fury.

"Lovi, please stop it!" I felt myself being pulled off my victim and let it happen, sensing that I had actually hurt the boy severely. "Please, calm down, Lovi. You're okay now… Look at me, please." A strong hand lifted my jaw up and my eyes were drawn to the green in front of me. "You're okay. He didn't mean to hurt you."

His words didn't make any sense to me. I was okay? What about the guy I had just beat the shit out of? He didn't mean to hurt me? He hadn't hurt me, I had hurt him! Strong arms holding me broke through my confusion and I realized Antonio was hugging me close to him. I closed my eyes and let him keep me there, my brain slowly beginning to register everything around me. There was a lot of shouting and cursing. The coach was asking the kid I'd punched if he was okay. That gay baby that had been the cause of this whole thing lay wailing on the ground where I'd dropped it. I finally decided it was okay to open my eyes again and looked around at everyone. They were talking to the guy I had punched. His nose did not look very good at all… Definitely broken. I felt secretly pleased about that and looked back to the man who's arms I was in.

And realized I was in his arms. My face erupted into a volcano of red and I jumped up and away from his embrace. And tripped over the backpack I had dropped on the floor. "Damn!" I yelped as I hit the ground.

"Lovi!" Antonio jumped up and helped me to my feet, holding me steady when I was there. "Be careful…"

His concern was both annoying and flattering, so I pushed his arms away, unable to think of something better to do. The second he released me, I swayed and again he caught me. "What the hell is going on?" I demanded angrily.

"When you punched him, he fought back and smacked your head a couple times. He didn't break anything, but I'm worried he gave you a concussion." His hand stroked my hair and I would have protested if he hadn't looked so worried.

With a long-suffering sigh, I had Antonio put me down on a bench. "Hey, Coach, we aren't going to call an ambulance, are we?" I asked, praying we wouldn't.

He gave me a look and shook his head. "No. Gino's just going to drive to the hospital. But tomorrow the both of you are going to be in detention for a long, long time. Alright," he said to the impatient team, "Let's get to practice! Lovino, you'll be sitting out. Toni, you'll be replacing him."

They all charged out of the locker room, ready for some soccer. All of them except for me and "Toni" as Coach called him. I looked down, miserable to the core and feeling very nauseated. While my face was towards the floor, I noticed the socks he was wearing were, again, neon orange. That made me wonder…

"Hey, Antonio? What's up with your socks?"

He looked at me, taken by surprise, and then laughed, making my heart feel warm. I even risked a small smile myself, since he couldn't see my face.

"Well, I have this aunt in Spain…"

For the first time in a long time, I laughed, genuinely happy, and told him, "Say no more… I completely get it."


	3. Annabelle

We laughed for a long time after that, just to get it out. I tried to embrace this feeling, hoping it would never leave me, but sure enough, five seconds later, Antonio, the one who had brought it to me, took it away.

"Coach is probably wondering where I am…" he hinted as he stood up, stretching.

I felt the happy drain, and all that was left behind was the cold anger that I normally felt. "Right. He gave you my spot."

Antonio looked worried and squatted down beside me, taking my hand suddenly. "But only for today! You'll be back on the job tomorrow!" Humor glinted in his eyes. "I promise." Then, as a parting gift, he kissed my hand gently.

"Wha-wha-what the hell?" I yanked my hand from his grasp and even swatted at him, which he dodged, chuckling.

I watched, infuriated, as he walked away, humming a tune I didn't recognize softly to himself. When he was gone, I felt my face burn again and I touched the spot where his lips had caressed my skin. Stupid, Spanish bastard… Suddenly I realized that if he was gone and I couldn't get up, I was screwed.

"Why did you leave me down here, you dumbass?" I growled to air, partially wishing he was still there to hear it.

With my head spinning and my heart pounding, I managed to get myself up, gather my stuff, get all the way up the stairs that led out of the locker room, and over to the bleachers on the other side of the field, before having to take a break to rub at my severely aching head. It throbbed violently and I gagged, feeling even sicker than before. I looked to the field, where all my teammates were running around after the ball, Antonio in my position as defender. He looked really happy there, I decided, kicking the ball fearlessly whenever it came his way, yet never once losing his grin. Even when he was starving to death, he managed to grin and bear it.

I envied him so much.

As I watched him play, watched the way the sun beat down on his vibrant tan skin, watched his eyes sparkle with the pleasure of being free, as I got lost in his expression, I realized just how much I wanted to be like him. How much I wanted to be able to be happy and loose and never once care what anyone else thought of me… Though I would never admit it to him, I thought he was beautiful, like a guardian angel…

"Lovi~!" My brother suddenly popped up beside me.

"AGH!" I freaked, blushing like a madman. "Feli, what the FUCK? Why aren't you in class?"

He frowned a little and told me, "This is my class. I'm an office aid sixth hour. You know that! Ooooh, are you watching Toni play?" he asked me, grinning from one stupid ear to the other.

"NO!" I denied loudly, causing both his and my baby dolls to start wailing like freaking banshees.

My twin started in surprise. "Oh! Don't cry, Ella~! You're okay, baby~!" he cooed to his inanimate object with affection as I glared at my own.

"Shut up, you damn piece of plastic!" I growled at it, shaking it violently.

My brother's baby had been silenced quickly and he was looking at me in horror as I murdered my own thing. Still cradling his, he took my doll and started singing to it softly, telling it how special and beautiful it was, and promising it loads of yummy pasta once we got home. I rolled my eyes at him, which sent a violent stabbing pain through my skull.

I cringed, but Feli didn't notice anything but the crying baby, so I was safe from his worry. "Let me try!" I hissed, stealing it from his comforting embrace by the leg.

He smiled at me and said, "_Ve~_ okay, Lovi! Be gentle!"

The dumb doll sobbed and sobbed, my cradling not enough for its whiny, self-centered tastes. It wasn't too long before I started to get frustrated with the damned thing and I grabbed its head. "Why won't you shut the fuck up?" My head swam with discomfort at every high-pitched noise omitted from the baby.

"Lovi, you're hurting it, _fratello!_" Feli panicked, once again taking it from my grasp.

This time, I didn't even bother to care. In fact, I was feeling so sick by now I lay down with my hand over my mouth taking deep breaths. Every single fake squeal the baby did, I felt myself getting closer and closer… no, no, no… I saw stars behind my eyes and I knew I was going to. I tried to run to the closest bathroom, but it was pointless.

I made it halfway across the soccer field before I threw up everything that had been in my stomach. Right in the middle of the field.

Involuntary tears of embarrassment seeped from my eyes, and I ran away as quickly as possible, still headed for the bathroom, in case more nastiness decided to erupt from me. I heard some of the guys calling after me, laughing, making fun of me. I wanted to die. No, I wanted to kill those bastards! By the time I had reached one of the stalls, I was sobbing, hating the fact that I couldn't make the damn tears turn off! Why was this happening to me?

I was still crying, less intensely, when the bathroom door creaked open and somebody stepped inside. I suddenly felt very glad that I had locked the stall door behind me as I came in. No one, not even Feli, would EVER see me like this. I felt so freaking weak, like somebody had stomped all over me and was just standing there, laughing. And if I knew who was just outside my stall, which I had a feeling I did, then I would definitely NEVER open the door.

"Lovi…"

Yep, it was who I thought. I didn't respond, just tried to make my cries a little quieter in the hope that he wouldn't hear me.

"Lovino, please, _abrir!_ Open up! I'm begging you, Lovi! I just want to help you…"

"I don't need your fucking help, you bastard! Leave me alone!" I yelled at him, hoping desperately he would listen for once.

Evidently, that was not the case. He continued to pester me. "Lovi, please, you need to come out and talk to me! You could be hurt really badly!"

"No, damn it, leave me the hell alone!" My head throbbed intensely again.

I heard some shuffling and then, out of nowhere, a head was peering underneath the stall's edge. "Lovi, please open up or I'm going in there after you!"

I supposed that was his version of a threat. All I could do was stick my tongue out at him and sick back further into the depths of the bathroom.

"Okay, if that's how it's going to be…" he sighed, grinning a little as he ducked under the door, crawling on his hands and knees. Somehow, he managed to make it under without smacking his head or any other part of himself, and within seconds he was standing there, smiling at me with his arms crossed. "Alright, Lovi, _Sen__õ__r Obstinado,_ we're going to the hospital."

I stared at him in horror, remembering my last trip to the emergency room. "N-no, you are not taking me to the damn hospital!"

Antonio was prepared to drag me out of this bathroom kicking and screaming, I could tell that by looking at his determined face. "I am," was all he said before picking me up bridal style, despite my fierce protests of anger, and bringing me back outside to be teased and harassed by my classmates.

Of course, the first thing I saw wasn't in fact my teammates or my coach. No, it was the teary-eyed face of my brother, panicked and shooting questions non-stop directly into my face. I felt relieved when Antonio headed away from the field the long way, carrying me all the way to where I had parked my car. As we reached the Stratus, I pulled the keys out of my pocket, and handed them to him, which he took gently. He unlocked the car and placed me inside on the passenger's side, incredibly carefully. My brother jumped into the back, still talking at the speed of light with words I didn't care to process.

Finally, Antonio crossed in front of the car, got in, and started it up, looking a little nervous for a reason that I was unaware of. I opened my mouth to ask, but closed it when the movement caused another pounding ache. I closed my eyes, hoping the darkness would calm it down, but they shot open again as we backed out with violent, jerky movements.

"What the HELL?" I gasped through my nausea.

Antonio just looked a little upset and disappointed, but continued in his reckless backing up. Every time he slammed the break, I thought I was going to puke. He drove just like another person I knew, one with reddish-brown hair, innocent amber eyes, and a curl that stuck out in the opposite direction of mine. One who was talking consistently in the back seat. My stomach dropped in terror as we completed the backing up, only to go shooting forward towards the entrance to the school.

"What… the FUCK… are you DOING?" I panted when we stopped at a stop sign.

"Um, well, it has been a bit since I've driven last…"

I knew I wouldn't be able to take this for very long. In fact, I'd be better off driving, even WITH a concussion. "Get out of the damn driver's seat!" I ordered.

Unfortunately, he didn't obey, and my trip to the emergency room this time was an erratic and violent one. If I hadn't actually had a concussion to begin with, I sure as HELL had one now. In fact, the first thing I did when I got out of the car was vomit all over the damn sidewalk. I wasn't sure if that was due to his driving or my injuries, but I knew I was never letting him drive me anywhere ever again. He took my hand in his own trembling one, and led me to the door, which he held open for me. I wondered why he was shaking like a leaf, since Feli and I were the ones who had gone through torture. We were told to take a seat and that we would be seen as soon as possible.

Which translated to hours, unsurprisingly. Feli sat, uncharacteristically silent, next to me, hands in his lap, no smile at his lips. I decided to pass the time by finding out more about Antonio.

"Why are you shaking, you crazy bastard? YOU didn't have to go through that torment!"

His past, serious look dissolved instantly when I spoke and he smiled, saying, "Actually, I did have to go through it. I was in the car too!"

I wanted to murder him for that comment. "Okay, whatever. But you didn't answer the question."

"Ah, yes. Well, that was… you see I…" he took a deep breath and told me, "I don't have my driver's license and I've never driven a car before then!"

I gaped, mouth hanging wide open. He had never driven? Not once? And he had endangered both my twin and I? Of all the… He could see me getting angry fast and he attempted to salvage his life.

"But I was so worried about you, Lovi! I don't want anything to happen to you, not ever…" he told me, looking straight into my eyes in a way that both embarrassed me and gave me a weird pleasure.

And then he had me. Damn it all…

After about two more painful hours of waiting, we were called inside, only to find out what we already knew and that the doctors couldn't fix it or anything. They gave me Tylenol and sent us on our way, me cussing them out until the very last second. I refused to ever let Antonio drive my precious car without a license again, so I lied, saying that I felt better, which Antonio didn't believe, but I still drove us home, seeing how school was already out. By the time we were in my driveway, I had forgotten Antonio was in the car with my brother and I, and only his clearing of his of throat brought me back to Earth.

"Aw, damn…" I muttered. "I'll drive you to your house." I really didn't want to; I was tired and the doctor had given me a strict order to sleep.

His lips curved gently up into a smile and he shook his head. "No, you need to go to bed. I'll walk home…"

Feliciano made a weird puppy noise and looked at me eagerly. "_Ve~, fratello!_ How about he stays for dinner? Please?"

At this point, I didn't give a damn and succumbed easily to his pressures. "Fine, whatever. I'm going to bed."

I did exactly what I said I was going to and collapsed into unconsciousness the second I was lying on my bed. For the first time since I couldn't remember when, I actually dreamed, though this was quite an unwelcome one involving me, Antonio, and a huge pile of massive, red, plump tomatoes.

I woke up panting and red, feeling embarrassed about the whole situation and glad that I was alone, if only for the time being. Then I remembered that the same man I had just had that dream about was gorging on pasta right in my kitchen. My face erupted even further, if that was possible, and I pulled the pillow over my face, mortified. Just when I was about to get over it and leave the room, I heard Feli's voice tell Antonio to come and check on me.

My heart sprinted and, in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to pretend I was still asleep. As he opened the door, I lay back down really and closed my eyes, hoping that he hadn't seen that. His footsteps were all I could use to judge his distance and when they stopped, I realized he was just inches away from my face. I wanted to peek so freaking bad, just to be sure, but I knew I'd get caught.

I could feel his breath on my face, and if I wasn't pretending to be asleep, I would've punched him. But I was, so I had to deal with the fact that he was right there. Just as I was getting confident that I was faking well, he uttered one word.

"Faker…" he accused, a smile in his tone.

Damn. Caught in the act. With a frown, I opened my eyes and sat up, crossing my arms, while he laughed at my attempts. "How'd you know, damn it?" I demanded of him.

"It was simple! Every time I put my face near you, you'd turn red. When I took it away a little, you'd go back to being pink!" He laughed again while I just felt my face go up in flames.

I was speechless, so I just stood up quickly, in an attempt to get out of the situation, only to sway a little. If Antonio had not been there to catch me, I would've fallen right onto my ass. I was only a little grateful that he was and I pushed him away as thanks, which he didn't seem to mind.

"So are you feeling better?" he questioned as I threw my bedroom door open.

"I guess. My head feels a little better," I admitted, not making eye contact with him.

Then my brother spotted me. Oh God. "_FRATELLO!_" he shrieked as he latched onto me and burst into tears. "I was so worried about you! Whaaaa!"

"I'm fine, Feli! Get off of me! You were there when the doctor said I'd be okay!" I unlatched his clinging fingers and the scent of pasta drifted to my nostrils from the kitchen.

That caused me to look at the clock. It was about ten at night and Feli was just making dinner? I had slept that long?

"Feli, please tell me you already ate dinner."

He stopped his sobbing abruptly and looked at me sheepishly. "Uh, well we were going to wait for you to wake up so we could all have dinner together! And… and…EEP!"

Obviously, his stuttering meant that he could foresee my fury and so I let them both have it. "You waited all damn night for me to wake up so that we could eat dinner TOGETHER? What if I hadn't woken up until tomorrow, huh? Were you going to starve yourselves? I can't believe you idiots…" I stomped into the kitchen and began filling my plate up, realizing that I was starving.

In a quiet, scared voice Feli told me, "_ Ve~, _but we did feed the babies and put them to bed!"

I paused in my noodle-scooping and looked over at my brother, who actually seemed pleased with himself for that comment. "Damn bastards…" I muttered to myself as I began getting my food again.

"SÍ, we did feed the babies! Lovi, I have to say, your baby is a lot like you," Antonio joked.

I sighed and sat down at the table, ignoring them both grumpily. When they realized I refused to socialize with people who fed dolls, they grabbed their own dinner and sat down at the table with me, chatting about something weird again. I was surrounded by idiots, I decided, trying to block them out with my own thoughts. But when images of tomatoes and the Spanish man next to me started appearing, I quickly dove into their conversation.

From what I could gather, they were having a friendly little comparison of their favorite foods: Pasta vs. tomatoes. Oh dear God.

I had had no clue Antonio's favorite food was tomatoes, even though I'd had that dream… I had to change the subject and freaking fast before they noticed how increasingly red I'd become. Right as it was Antonio's turn to make a point of why his food was so delicious I spat out the only thing I could think of.

"Who was that girl?"

The two of them looked at me curiously, both seeming confused at my outburst.

I blushed, but persisted, "That little girl from yesterday when I dropped you off at your house?"

Realization set in for Antonio, and though Feli looked about as confused as he could get, he also seemed to be waiting for the Spaniard's response. I watched his huge smile dim slightly and he stayed quiet for another minute, which aggravated me to no end.

"That was… that was the little girl that I babysit…" he admitted, flustered.

He seemed to be acting a little too suspicious to me again, playing with his fingernails and not looking at me in the slightest. "What's her name?"

The grin reappeared at this and he said, "Annabelle. She's a really sweet little girl that I am fortunate enough to care for when her parents can't!"

Something clicked in my head, and I didn't know why I was inspired to ask him this, but it seemed like the right thing to do to me. "Antonio, is that her house? Do you babysit Annabelle at her house?"

The smile disappeared once again and he flushed even more deeply. "I really should be getting home now…" he told the two of us, trying to change the subject rapidly.

"What home do you mean exactly?" I questioned.

He turned pale instead of blushing this time. "I really should go…" he told us, avoiding my questions yet again. "Gracias, Feli, dinner was very delicious and I enjoyed it! I'd love to come over again sometime when Lovi isn't sick, if that's okay?"

Feli smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "_Ve~_ come over whenever! Bye, Toni!"

"Toni" waved good-bye as he walked out the door, smiling graciously. He was halfway down the driveway before I decided I wasn't letting him leave with my questions still unanswered. I shoved Feli out of the doorway and took off after that damn Spanish boy, stopping him in his tracks and panting even though the run had been extremely short.

I stood inches in front of him, arms crossed, ready to stop him again if he tried to go around. "Tell me what the hell is going on with you right now."


	4. Francis and Gilbert Suck

Antonio just stared at me for a moment, saying nothing. Then he put his hands in his pockets and looked away submissively. "What do you want to know?"

"You heard me before, damn it!" I yelled at him, not considering the time or place.

Of course, he would be the one to notice it was late at night and that I had neighbors, so he suggested, "Can we go inside and talk this over please?"

Begrudgingly, I agreed, and I watched him carefully as we headed back into the house and over to the living room. Antonio kept casting glances down at me, his eyes vibrant and nervous, like he was a prisoner and I was his security guard. In this instance, it was exactly like that. I even made sure he had sat all the way down on the couch before taking a seat next to him. This man would not get away without an explanation, not on my watch.

"Now," I said when we were all seated, "Talk."

"_Ve~,_ what's going on, _fratello?"_ Feliciano asked. "Why's Toni back?"

Both Antonio and I ignored the confusion of him, staring at each other fiercely.

"Okay… yes, the house is where Annabelle lives, not where I live. I babysit her for money because that's the only job I could find at the moment, plus I like kids. It pays moderately well and I need the money…" he paused, hesitating.

"Alright, then what about a house? You don't live anywhere, do you?"

Reluctant, Antonio looked down to his brightly colored sneakers. "N-no… I have a home… But it's not my own. I live with… with my friends, Gilbert and Francis." Hesitant orbs of green shot up to gage my reaction to this.

I didn't know why I wasn't surprised. By all means, I should have been, but I couldn't make myself feel shocked to find out what was really going on. "Then why the fuck do they have lunch and not you?" I asked, feeling rage boiling again.

He gave a nervous chuckle and explained. "Well, that's because the three of us, though we all live under one roof, support ourselves. We all have our own jobs and money that we earn. Another thing is that we are all exchange students that… well… that ran away. From our "homes" here. The three of us met in school this year and they offered a spot in their home up to me. I had been homeless for about a month until then, and I was really hungry, so I went with my gut feeling and took their offer. Not long after that, I found the job babysitting and took it, so I would have my own money for food." Again, he stopped, looking at me as if he thought he was done.

"Okay, AND? Since I met you yesterday, I haven't seen you eat a thing that wasn't given to you by somebody else! Obviously, you're still starving, despite the money you earn! What the hell is up with THAT?"

The look that came on his face after my words pretty much said, "Man, I was praying to God that you wouldn't ask that, but you did and now I'm screwed." What he actually said though was nothing like the face he made.

"Please can we talk about this some other time, Lovi?" Antonio was desperate to get away from here, that much even Feli could tell if he tried. "I'm very tired…"

I decided on a compromise. "I'll let you go if you promise to tell me tomorrow at lunch." It made me feel a little sick to not get the rest of his story out of him and to be so damn nice, but this seemed to please him enough.

"Oh, yes, yes!" His voice got deep and seductive. "I promise you, Lovi, I won't keep you waiting much longer!"

It took all the strength I had in my body not to beat him up for saying those words like that, and somehow I managed to put all my embarrassed and grouchy feelings into an extremely blush-filled pout and a, "Get the hell out of my house, damn it!"

He burst into laughter at my reaction and walked to the door, following my order to leave. But before he got lost like I wanted him to, he called back in, "Good night, Lovi_, mi amor_, Feli, _mi amigo_!" Then he disappeared into the night, still chuckling about his own idiocy.

With a snort, I started walking back to my room, only to find Feliciano passed out on the couch where he had sat to listen to us talk. Being the "caring, sensitive" older brother I was, I pulled a blanket off the couch that Antonio and I had been sitting on and placed it over my twin's sleeping form gently, as not to break his constant breathing pattern. When he was taken care of, I did my routine nighttime ritual and went to bed, finally able to close my eyes again and just relax…

A shrill, mechanical cry resounded through the house just as I attempted to let sleep in. My eyes snapped open and I trudged out into the living room, still naked, (that was how I slept) to find out where my dumb brother had hidden the damned baby dolls. Out in the living room, Feli still slept soundly, even though the ear-piercing shrieks were overpowering to me. It sounded as if they were coming from the spare bedroom, which made a lot of sense, so I slammed the door open to the room and found the two little babies all dressed up in pajamas and lying next to one another under the covers.

Angel was the one screeching, of course, so I went up to the thing and grabbed it by its arm, shaking it until it went silent. Who said I couldn't be a good parent? Exhausted from everything, I knew I couldn't make it back to my own room, so I crawled in beside the freaky ass dolls and fell asleep, quickly drifting into nothingness.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I had one doll right in my face and the other squished under my butt. I groaned, imagining a hangover would feel similar to the pain I was having in my head. Obviously, more Tylenol was in order. I rolled over to look at the clock, the doll that had been on my butt somehow managing to stick there. 5:30… wait, was that IN THE MORNING? I groaned with displeasure at my early waking hour, but proceeded to stand and peel Feli's doll off of my butt.

I walked out into the living room to find Feliciano still snoring away where he had been last night. Jeez, that kid could sleep anywhere… while I stared in mild displeasure, a cold draft from outside hit my bare skin and I decided it was time to get dressed, so I went into my room and picked out my clothes for the day, not really caring what they looked like. No longer in the nude, I went out to make breakfast, but found that I had already been beaten to it.

Feliciano was now in the kitchen singing his morning song, watching as he cooked us up our morning omelets. What the fuck? Hadn't he just been in the…? Oh well, I got food out of it, so I didn't say anything, just sat down at the table quietly, holding my pounding head between my hands.

"Good morning, Lovi~!" he announced when he saw me sitting there. "Oh, but why are you up so early? _Ve~, _I thought you'd sleep for a long time!"

I looked up at him, head still hurting mildly and said, "I wish I could have. Fucking doll, touching my butt…"

He seemed confused for a moment, but just turned and went back to his cooking. Then he froze, mid-song. "ELLA!" he cried, running into the guest room and coming back out with both the dolls, each one with their limbs sticking in unnatural positions. "Whaa~! Ella, Angel, I'm so sorry!" Still crying, he moved their arms and legs back into natural positions and hugged them close, apologizing as if they could really hear him.

They just stared up at him with unnerving and unmoving deep blue eyes. Dolls were so damn creepy… I watched as he placed the in their carriers and placed them on the table, still talking to them and saying how yummy their breakfasts were going to be.

Finally, he completed all four omelets, while I yelled at him for wasting our precious food on inanimate things and shoved my own breakfast down my throat. He just told me that babies needed to eat to grow big and strong, so I told him to go suck something. Fed up with his dumbass tendencies, I went to brush my teeth and hair, just for something else to do. I got to the bathroom and looked in the mirror with distaste at the dark circles under my eyes, my messy hair, my scowling features. How could I expect anyone to like me when I looked like this?

I stuck my toothbrush in my mouth sulkily, trying my hardest not to wonder what Antonio thought of the image I saw in front of me. But what did he think, really? Was I… special to him? I almost choked on my own spit at that thought, and I finished brushing my teeth so I wouldn't die. God, what the fuck? Of course I wasn't! That wasn't even possible, looking the way I did… Feeling grouchy because of my random thoughts, I yanked my brush through my hair and went back to my room to pack up my schoolbag. Again, the mirror in my room caught my eye and before I could register what I was doing, I was in front of it, screwing with my hair like some teenage girl freaking out before a date.

My brain catching up to my actions, I froze and stared, mortified, at my hands. What the HELL? Was I ON SOMETHING? I decided, though it was only about 7:00 now, that it was time to leave this house before I did anything else freaking gay. I snatched up my backpack, grabbed my carrier off the kitchen table, and went out to my car.

"Lovi, what are you doing, _fratello?"_ Feli asked while following me to my Stratus.

"I'm going to school, damn it!" I told him and got in, not bothering to buckle my dumb parenting project in.

I drove off, the rising sun blinding, not sure what I was going to do at school this early. Maybe I would go to the library and get a book to read or something. Or maybe I would just go and walk around for a bit. Either way, I would be away from any and all mirrors, if possible.

I got to school, the baby managing to stay quiet even as it flew around the car while I parked. I got out, got my stuff, and decided to head to the library, already thinking about what to get while I was there. The library at the high school was small and limited, not full of anything interesting, but if I was desperate for something, _anything,_ to read, I wouldn't be picky in my choices. I walked in and was greeted with a smile from the librarian, helping some kid I didn't know. I didn't smile back, too lost in my own world to even consider trying, and found the fiction shelf easily. As I browsed the titles, I realized we really had some freaking crappy books here and clicked my tongue in distaste.

I looked up from them, bored and annoyed, only to find myself staring at Antonio, curled up in a chair with a book, smiling that same smile he always had plastered on his face. He hadn't noticed me yet, so I was free to gawk at him behind the safety of the shelf in front of me. Weirdly, he looked eager and satisfied, quickly scanning the pages and turning them, hungry for more of the information the book was giving him. I'd only seem him this involved a couple of times, like when he was playing soccer. Yeah, it was exactly the same as that, all excited and just… happy.

I probably would have gotten away with a couple more minutes of staring at him if my stupid doll hadn't started wailing at me for some unknown reason. I felt my face go red, as the library and been silent up until that moment, and now everybody in the damn room was looking at me and the annoyance. Including Antonio, who somehow instantly recognized that wail as being Angel's and put his book down so that he could walk up to me.

"_Hola, _Lovi!" he said as he cheerfully walked up to me. "What are you doing at school library so early in the morning?"

As much as I wanted to run and hide, I stood my ground, still blushing, and told him, baby still screaming, "What else do you do in a freaking library? I'm trying to find a book, but this fucking doll won't shut up."

He cocked his head to the side for a moment, then picked the doll up out of its carrier and cradled it, singing some kind of Spanish lullaby until it finally was quiet and content in his arms. Gently, as if it were a real human being, he put it back in the carrier and signaled with one finger over his mouth that I should be quiet. I gave him a face fitting of the distaste I felt and he laughed quietly, amused.

After another minute of silence and stupid hand signaling, I decided the hell with it and said, "So why are you here so early?"

"I always come to the library early before school starts so that I can just get away from things and read for a little while. You'd be surprised what kinds of interesting things happen in nasty old books, Lovi! You can learn so much!"

It was seriously like he could read my mind. I didn't respond to his comment, only stared as he picked up the book he had been reading and began looking it over again. _Home Cookin': How to Use a Tomato in 300 ways, _it read. What the hell? How could he have looked so overjoyed about a cookbook? Did he just like looking at the pictures or what?

"Are you planning on cooking dinner or do you just like to look at pictures of tomatoes?" I asked, trying not to sound as curious as I felt.

"Actually… both!"

I turned to hide my smile as he looked back to his book.

I shifted in my chair next to him, staring at the baby doll, and said, "Are you going to tell me now?"

The smile disappeared and he looked at me, putting the book back down. He looked really worn and tired suddenly, with dark circles under his eyes that resembled my own. I felt bad about bugging him, but I just HAD to know what he was hiding from the world. Antonio rubbed his head in distress and looked at the floor.

"I… I can't tell you."

I felt enraged, betrayed by his statement. "Oh, so you fucking lied? Well that's perfect, you damn tomato bastard! And I had actually started to trust you!"

I could tell my words hurt him, especially when he flinched like that. His expression pled with me to stay and listen, so I didn't stomp off like I wanted to. "Please, Lovi, please listen to me! If I tell you…if you knew… you could get hurt and… I really like you, Lovi. I don't want to hurt you, not ever. All I can say is that you're better off not knowing because it's really, really dangerous."

I stared at him, slowly processing his words, one by one. What did he mean, I could get hurt? That it was dangerous? That he really, really liked me? I was frustrated beyond belief and I stared him down, wanting so much to ask more questions but knowing he wouldn't answer them. I was trapped, pinned.

"Damn it…" I muttered

Antonio looked just as trapped as I felt, and we sat in silence until the bell rang. That snapped both of us back to reality and we grabbed our stuff hurriedly. The librarian gave us a knowing smile and a cheerful goodbye as we walked out together. I ignored the implications behind that and we kept walking, still right beside each other. When I peeked over at him, Antonio was smiling again, looking like his cheerful self, as if the conversation we'd had had never happened. I wondered how he could manage to do that when it seemed that his world was crumbling around him. As it turned out, Antonio's first hour was just across the hall from mine, which explained the meeting with him and his stupid friends. Just as we were about to part ways, Antonio paused and looked back at me, as if he were about to say something.

I stared at him, scowling as usual, as he opened his mouth and turned slightly pink.

"Ah…" he started, but seemed to think better of whatever he was actually going to say and changed it. "I'll see you later, Lovi!" With a wink that pissed me off deeply, he walked into his classroom.

Damn that Spaniard and his mysterious ways.

I walked into my own class, already feeling like I'd gone through a whole school day. There was nothing to do but think about what Antonio had said to me, because there was no way I was going to actually listen to my freaking teacher yap about shit I didn't care about. So I was stuck trying to decipher everything I had heard, which put me in a really bad mood. Anyone who messed with me right now would probably get their head eaten off.

Lucky for me, the day sped by quickly, and before I knew it, it was lunch time and I was, again, standing right next to the Dumbass Trio, as I called, them in line. They were harassing Antonio about something or other, ignoring my existence completely. Which was fine by me. Listening to them talk was activating my headache again, and I prayed that the line would hurry up so that I could sit down and ignore Feli. Just my luck that Gilbert would notice me right then.

"Hey! The awesome me sees that guy from yesterday! It's Toni's boyfriend! Hi, Toni's boyfriend!"

In my head I was cussing him out, but I tried my hardest to not sink to his level and say it out loud. I pretended not to hear him, though my face was starting to burn from the "boyfriend" comment. It started to get more difficult to ignore him when he started jabbing me in the side with his finger.

"Talk to the awesome me! Because I'm awesome! And you'll want to hear every awesome word that comes from my extra awesome mouth!"

Still getting harassed by the French bastard, Antonio couldn't save me from the OTHER bastard, so I continued to ignore the jabbing, losing my patience quickly. "Fuck off!" I growled to him quietly.

Surprising and enraging me, he burst into laughter and kept poking me, apparently entertained that I had just cussed at him. I swore another time, under my breath, and turned to glare at the taller man, pissed off. That just made him laugh hysterically and he continued to poke me, pushing me even further.

"Leave him alone, Gilbert!" Antonio ordered, having finally realized what his dumb friend was doing.

Francis grinned evilly over at my torture. "Oh, Toni! Is that your boyfriend right there that Gilbert is poking?" For some reason, they found that funny.

Suddenly, the Frenchman began poking my side as well, joining in on the infuriating albino's teasing. Then, out of nowhere, Gilbert switched from poking my side to playing with the curl that stuck out from the rest of my hair and I froze in disbelief.

"Francis, Gilbert! Leave Lovi alone!" Antonio practically begged them, unable to stop the torture.

With that, I could take no more. I would not let Antonio BEG for me. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" I yelled, pushing both of them away from me.

I was panting I was so mad, and I shoved the three of them out of the way to get to the line, where I bought my lunch and stalked off, holding my now crying baby and being stared at by every other person in the line that had heard my outburst. I found my brother already seated at a table and threw my tray down next to him, yanking out the chair from under the table and sitting in it with all my might, which hurt my butt, pissing me off further.

As I fumed, Feliciano asked, "_Ve~, _what's wrong,_ fratello?"_

"Fucking fuckers, think they can fuck with me!" I spat, answering Feli's question unintentionally.

Without warning, my brother leaned over in his chair and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a weird, sideways hug. I felt myself relax a little, my anger dulled by the embrace of my twin. Though it was embarrassing, I let him cling to me until, finally, he had calmed me down enough where I was thinking rationally again. With a smile, he went onto talking about nothing, as was usual for lunch. Just when I was about to go to my happy place, I was ripped out of it by the screeching of a chair being dragged across the floor next to me.

"Can we sit next to you for lunch, _mon ami?_" I heard Francis ask, already sitting right beside me.

"Yeah, all the tables are filled, which is so not awesome!" Gilbert complained.

I couldn't believe they had the BALLS. I turned to tell them off, already knowing exactly what I planned to say, but lost all train of thought when I saw the look on Antonio's face. He looked just plain MISERABLE. He had already sat down, like his friends, and he actually had food today, but he looked so damn down, no dorky smile, no charming laughter, no light behind his eyes. He was all but sobbing his eyes out in front of me. I closed my mouth again and looked away, unable to take such a painful expression. How could his friends not SEE?

But of course, stupid Feli being stupid said, "Are you Toni's friends? _Ve~, _of course you can!"

They smirked at each other and dug in, food pieces flying every which way. I'd already had enough of them and looking at him, so had Antonio. Leaving my tray for someone else to clean up, I went over to the sad-looking boy and yanked him up by his shirt. He looked confused for a moment, yet still in the state he had been, even as I pulled him outside into the courtyard.

"Would you just smile already? Damn it, frowns don't suit you!" I told him, trying to evoke something in him.

It worked like a charm and he grinned, genuinely, if not a little exhaustedly. "I'm sorry, Lovi. I just am thinking a little too much."

"Well don't. It's too freaking weird."

"Okay, Lovi."

Then, he leaned over, pushing me against the wall we had been standing by, and kissed me.


	5. Shirtless

I didn't know what to do. He was kissing me, another guy, right in front of every other freaking student outside and acting like we were all alone. I mean, he'd even pushed me up against the damn wall. My face burned, from anger or embarrassment, or maybe even something else. I couldn't really tell. All I could really think about was the fact that his lips were pressing against mine. My mind was clouded, but not so much where I couldn't see how wrong this was in so many other people's eyes. Just imagining their harassment, their painful teasing, was enough for me to shove Antonio off.

"What the FUCK are you doing? We just met three damn days ago! What's your problem, you bastard?" I freaked, scaring him a little.

As usual, he just smiled that cheesy smile at me and said, "I know we only met a few days ago, but Lovi… I love you! I love you so much I just couldn't help but kiss that cute little mouth!"

Did he WANT to die? I was trembling, my ferocity too much for my body. "What the hell? Don't fucking call me cute damn it!"

Still grinning he told me, "But you are cute! And… well it would actually make me very happy if… Lovi, will you please be my boyfriend?" he asked, stroking the side of my face.

I gaped at him, mouth hanging wide, face on fire, stunned into absolute silence. What could I say to this guy, the one I had just wondered what he thought of me this morning, this INSANE PERSON I had only met just a few days before? Shaking for a different reason now, I pushed him aside and ran, literally ran, back into the lunchroom and away from the mental distress.

I went back to the table where my brother still sat with Gilbert and Francis, the three of them smiling, two mischievously, one stupidly. My heart was throbbing, my face even more flushed from the run. When I sat down next to my brother again, I felt the two idiotic gazes and looked at them, seeing death in their futures.

Gilbert was the first to speak. "The awesome me thinks something extra spicy awesome happened between you and Toni!"

"_Oui, _you do appear to be worked up!" Francis added unnecessarily.

"Fuck off, both of you!" I told them, my patience non-existent at this point in time.

"Oooh, something very _interessant _is about to happen!" the French bastard exclaimed, pointing to the flustered Spaniard walking up to the table after me.

Looking a little thrown off, yet still smiley, Antonio walked up beside me. "Lovi, please, I…"

"N-no, damn it!" I heard myself say to his eagerness. Th-that hadn't been what I wanted to say… aw, hell.

I watched his excitement level drop off and shatter into pieces in front of me. "O-oh…" His brows furrowed with confusion. "But Lovi… Please… I lo-"

My eyes got wide as he almost said those dreaded words again, right in front of his friends and my brother. I couldn't let him, I just couldn't. I desperately searched out something to shut him up with, but, seeing nothing but the exuberant faces of Antonio's dimwit roommates, I had to say something that I really, really hadn't wanted to. Or maybe I actually had all along.

"Fine, fine! Okay! But shut the hell up or I'll shut your mouth for you!"

He paused, mid-beg, and suddenly he was all happy again, major mood swing mode activated. "Oh, _gracias, _Lovi! _Te quierdo!"_

I was suddenly glad that nobody seemed to understand his Spanish words. In fact, they all looked at us, confused, not sure about the exchange going on between us. I kind of liked it that way, being the only one who knew what he was saying. Still feigning anger at him, but really feeling my stupid gay insides melt at his look of pure ecstasy, I glared at him out of the corner of my eye.

But once again, he saw right through my attempts to hide myself, and he gave me a bone-crushing hug that had me gasping for air. "G-get the hell off me, you psycho!" I gasped, smiling on the inside.

"The awesome me is confused! Which is not awesome!" Gilbert grouched. "Toni, explain!"

I gave him a look that said, 'Tell them what the fuck I just agreed to and today will be your last.' He pantomimed zipping his lips, like a complete idiot, and shrugged at Gilbert, who was now yelling threats with 'awesome' being his every other word.

Francis seemed to know better than to freak out and scream, unlike his albino friend and just said, "Ah, _amour!"_

My brother was just staring at Toni and me, smiling like the completely clueless moron that he was.

I didn't get a chance to yell at any of the three bystanders before the bell rang for us to go to class, which I was a little grateful for. Gilbert was really starting to piss me off. My, I shuddered at thinking this, NEW BOYFRIEND walked with me and my brother to parenting class, trying to hold my hand the whole time. I kept swatting the damned thing away, but it just kept coming back, like a haunting ghost or something. Why didn't the stupid Spanish tomato bastard ever LEARN? Ignorant Feli, being… ignorant… didn't notice a thing. I was suddenly very thankful for that, since I didn't want ANYONE to know about this, not even my twin.

We got to the class and I said goodbye hurriedly, turning so he couldn't try to pull anything on me that I would have to murder him for later. Of course, that method was useless, and he spun me around easily, giving me his most beautiful smile, and he whispered like a creepy pervert in my ear.

"_Te quierdo,_ my little Lovi…" With that, he stood up straight again and walked away, waving until he turned the corner.

My face reddened and I dragged Feli into the classroom by his sleeve, not wanting to stand there thinking about that. Today was the day I would get rid of the damn doll that was my already failed project! It was the woman's turn to take care of the baby, thank the heavens, and I happily handed the crying plastic hunk over to Arthur, who didn't look very thrilled about his "bundle of joy."

"Bloody hell…" he muttered as the thing wailed and wailed.

With a smirk I told him, "Good luck. You'll need it. Damn it, that thing is so freaking annoying!"

He groaned and started trying to shut Angel up.

I actually felt a flicker of pity for the poor guy.

For once, I enjoyed a class in that room, no longer having to deal with the mechanical cries. It was over before I knew it, and overjoyed, I imagined myself skipping to soccer. Then I slapped myself in the face. I'd been hanging out with too many idiots lately. The only bad thing about soccer was the people in it, including Antonio, and more than one of them had seen our display at lunch. Oh yes, this would be horrible.

I walked into the locker room hesitantly, only to find that I had beaten all of them there. I sighed in relief and started to get ready, enjoying the precious quiet alone time. I managed to get everything changed and put away before the rest of the guys all came walking in at once, laughing obnoxiously and being louder than loud. Some of them saw me and smirked, talking quietly to their friends, but most of them just ignored me and went along with the business of preparing to practice.

I was about to go out onto the field, to get out of the crowd that was starting to make me claustrophobic, but I was stopped dead in my tracks. I hadn't even noticed Antonio come down here, but there he was. Ch-changing his shirt. He was… shirtless. I swallowed, mentally smacking myself multiple times for staring at his half-naked body so obviously like that. Quickly, I went back to my locker, pretending like I'd forgotten something, giving myself the excuse to stay down here and watch him.

I'd never noticed what impressive shape he was in. For having not eaten well in who knew how long, he was extremely fit and his skin was beautiful and tan across his back. Except… except there was one questionable scar that ran from his left shoulder to his right hip…

"Getting an eyeful of Toni, eh, Faggot?" I heard a voice say.

I turned to look at my attacker, face red, embarrassed about being caught looking. "N-no! Go the fuck away!"

His friends laughed at the teasing and made faces at me, taunting me… pushing their luck.

"I said leave me the fuck alone," I told them icily, which made them laugh even harder.

Just as I was about to take action like I really wanted to, Antonio came up, hugging me from behind, still shirtless, and saying nothing, pulled we away from them. They were still guffawing in the background, but all I could notice now was the fact that he had actually hugged me half-naked from behind. The minute I could, I spun out of his grasp and looked at him, trying very hard not to dwell on his well-built chest and concentrate only on his face.

"The hell did you do that for?" I mumbled.

"Ignore them, Lovi. I don't mind you staring at me!" he replied cheerfully.

"Th-that's not… I wasn't…. I wasn't staring at you, damn it!"

"Ooooh, then what were you fighting about?"

Disgruntled and unable to think of anything, I just walked around him and went out to the field, extremely disconcerted and nervous, hating the fact that I solved all my problems by either running away or trying to beat someone up. I was truly a wimp in all senses of the word. Frustration followed me out onto the field and all I can say is that if this had actually been a game, I would've been red-carded a long time ago. Antonio actually got to play defense with me, though he mostly stayed out of my way and let me clear the ball whenever it got to our end.

After the bell had rung and soccer practice had ended, most of the team had felt the fury of my elbow in their ribs, especially that certain group from earlier. Bastards. I stalked over to my car indignantly, opening it up and hopping in, not even saying goodbye to my supposed boyfriend. That changed as I saw him jogging up to me, and though my foot was already close to the gas, I didn't have the guts to just press down and leave him there.

"Lovi, wait!" he called to me when he was about halfway to me.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" I yelled back at him, wondering if I really should just go or not.

When he got to the car he was panting heavily, doubled over, trying to catch his breath again. "I… was… wondering… if I… could have… a ride home?"

"What, you don't have a friend to drive you home already?" I snorted, forgetting that he had said he had no soccer friends.

He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and told me, laughing, "Well, somehow, with the circumstances, ever since I joined soccer a few days ago, I've ended up riding home with you every time, Lovi! And I have to babysit as soon as school gets out today, so I can't just walk like I would if I wasn't… I'm really sorry."

"Ugh, fine, you can ride with me. But you have to…" I cleared my throat, suddenly blushing again, "You have to, uh, explain the scar on you back!"

Antonio had already been walking to the other side of the car, a spring in his step, but when I said that, he faltered. It lasted only a second, but it had been there, I was sure. Then he kept his merrily stepping and got into the car. The second he was in, I pushed the pedal down and we were on our way to the little girl's house.

"So?" I asked after a long silence.

"When I was little, we went for a camping trip. I can't remember where, but it was some place in the woods. I ended up wandering away from my family and wandering into a cave I found. I didn't realize then that it was a bear den, or at least I didn't until I came upon two little teddy bear cubs sleeping. I remember reaching out to touch one of them right when the mama bear came back and… well I was in her den, threatening her babies, as she saw it, so she attacked me. That's how I got the scar! The only thing I can still remember clearly is the blood… There was so much blood…" he spaced out for a moment, only to come back to reality with a pervy smile on his face.

"So you were looking, huh?"

My face grew hot and my heart thumped unevenly in my chest. "I already said that I wasn't, you bastard! I just looked once and saw the scar!"

Antonio said nothing to this, just kept on smiling until we reached Annabelle's house, where I parked at the curb and let him out.

"Hey, Lovi?"

I had been about to drive away, but this made me stop and look at him. "What?" I asked, impatient and annoyed.

"Will you please babysit with me?"

I was so startled by the question that I accidentally released my hold on the brake and started rolling forward minutely. I slammed it down again and put the freaking car back in park so I wouldn't have to worry about having that happen again. "The hell?" I demanded of him.

He got all shy-looking, which was a little weird, but kind of… no, I would NOT call him cute.

"Well, it's just that the parents told me I could have one friend come over and help me out if I wanted to when I first got the job and… you wouldn't have to do anything! I'd do all the babysitting stuff! But I just like being around you and I want to spend time with you, since you're my boyfriend now. I want to spend all the time I can with you, Lovi! You never know when the end will come…"

Damn. I knew I could never say no to that face. "I'll have to call Feli and I have homework…"

His face brightened sixty million watts and he did a weird skip-in-a-circle type thing. "Thank you, Lovi! _Te quierdo!_ Oh and you can do your homework inside while I take care of things!"

Grumbling, I yanked my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed the house number. After a few rings, Feli answered in his usual way.

"Hellooooo, this is Feliciano!"

"Yeah, I know who it is. I freaking live there. We have caller I.D. Use it."

"Oh, _ve~ fratello!_ Where are you?"

"I'm going to miss dinner tonight so go ahead and make something for yourself. I'm… helping Antonio babysit." It sounded weird coming out of my mouth, even to me, but Feli? Nope, he didn't see a problem with it at all.

"Okay, Lovi~! I'll make your dinner so you can heat it up later!" he told me and hung up, but not before I heard a much deeper voice saying something in the background. What the…?

I shook off my concerns, blaming it on the T.V. and got out of the car, only to have my hand grabbed by the guy whose hand I'd been swatting away all day long. Antonio pulled me across the lawn to the front porch and rang the doorbell, practically bouncing off the walls. God, why was he so excited? The same little girl from a couple days ago answered the door, huge toothless grin plastered on her freckly face.

"Toni!" she cried, pulling him inside, just like last time.

It was like she hadn't even seen me standing there. She only had eyes for Antonio and had already dragged him to a playroom filled with millions and millions of pink, frilly, girly, lacy toys that made my eyes burn and twitch to look at. Already Annabelle had him playing dress-up, and I watched in amusement as he was shoved into a dress and dubbed Aunt Mildred. I was surprised to find him actually enjoying himself, bending to the young blonde's every whim. I became even more shocked when she called herself Uncle Bubba and said that they were going to get married.

Laughing, Toni said, "What about Lovi? What does he get to be?"

Annabelle looked over to me and her dark blue eyes widened like she was seeing me for the first time. "Lovi?" she asked, testing out my name.

Not understanding what she wanted me to do, I just nodded, which made her giggle.

"Your curl! It goes bouncy every time you move your head! Do it again!" she ordered.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but nodded again and again until she was in hysterics, literally rolling around on the floor laughing. Children had such simple minds. She didn't seem to think it was getting old, but I was getting dizzy, so I stopped, though she kept on giggling, turning red from all the laughter. I sat down, feeling weird that I was the only one standing and was promptly mauled by the five-year-old.

"Hey, get off!" I told her.

Antonio started to look a little worried, whether about my crumbling patience or the fact I was getting climbed on by a monkey, I couldn't tell, but he came over and tried to pull the girl off, only to have her hold on to my curl with all her might.

I couldn't hold in the weird, "Chigii!" noise that came out, which made us all pause in surprise.

Finding new excitement in my reaction, she kept on yanking it, which kept making me produce really weird noises until finally, flushed and furious, I slapped her hand away.

She recoiled and toppled over Antonio, then burst into tears, holding her hand like it was broken. Jeez, I'd just hit her so she'd let go! She was pulling my curl, damn it! Antonio sternly tried to comfort her and chastise her at the same time, explaining that pulling people's hair was not something that she should do, no matter what noises they made when it happened. Annabelle stared up at me, hurt in her insanely massive eyes.

"Lovi's a meanie," she accused.

"Annabelle!" Antonio warned with his voice.

"And meanies deserve to go into time out!"

We both stared at her, confused by her words.

"But, Annabelle, you were the one pulling his hair! You should apologize to Lovi for that. Please tell him that you're sorry." He was good with children, I could give him that.

She shook her head. "No! Lovi's a bad boy! He needs to learn his lesson!"

As I looked at her, weirded out by her words, her eyes began to draw me in and no matter how much my mind struggled, I couldn't look away. Before I could do anything but stare at her like a deer in headlights, I felt myself falling, falling deep into the depths of my own mind, where everything was nothing but darkness, and I collapsed into a deep, black pit of empty.


	6. He's Me and I'm Him?

_Antonio's POV_

I had no clue what had just happened. One minute, Lovi was standing there, looking at Annie, the next he had collapsed on the floor. Panicked, I ran over to him and tested to see that he was still breathing. A sigh of relief escaped my lips when I felt his soft, warm breath on my hand, indicating that this was just a fainting spell or something.

"Lovi! Lovi, wake up!" I told him, shaking him gently. "Lovi, please, _mi amor!_" Even if it was just a spell, I didn't want him to stay like this for too long. I was sure it would hurt him in some way.

Meanwhile, Annabelle was giggling behind me, saying, "Lovi's in timeout right now! He's not allowed to talk to anybody!"

Slowly, I turned from Lovi's unconscious body to look at the little girl in surprise. Had she… Had she done this to my little Lovi? If she had, what was she?

"Annabelle, what did you do to him?" I asked her, trying to be patient.

"I told you, silly Toni! He's in timeout! Remember he was a bad boy! Don't worry though. It won't last forever!" She smiled and started to play with the princess Barbie in front of her.

I stared at her in disbelief as she ran around like most five-year-olds would. Except there was no way she was a normal five-year-old. I looked back down at my boyfriend, only to find him opening his eyes, rubbing his head like he was in pain.

"Lovino! Oh, I was so worried, _mi __ángel__!"_ I blurted unthinkingly, and prepared for his onslaught of cuss words.

He sat up in my arms, looked around a little, confused, like he was seeing the room for the first time… Then he looked me in the face and I knew something really weird was going on. Lovi was _smiling._ At me. The one who had just called him "my angel." I didn't think it was possible! In fact, his face in general was entirely giving off a happy aura…

"_Ve~, _Toni? Where am I?" he asked me.

I stared at him in disbelief, my mouth literally hanging open. "L-Lovi?" I asked, hesitantly reaching over to touch his hair.

"Lovi" saw what I was about to do and leaned over and hugged me, pushing my hand right onto his head. "Toni~!" he exclaimed. Then he looked back around and said, "_Ve~, _last time I remember being in my house… Oh! Is that that the little girl you babysit? So cute~! This room is really colorful and full of all kinds of fun-looking toys!" He proceeded to run around and start playing with things, only to go over to Annabelle and start playing with her.

What the… What in the world was going on?

Annabelle giggled and told me, "I like this Lovi better! He's a lot more fun than the old one!"

No…no that couldn't be Lovino. Not my Lovi… He almost seemed like… Suddenly an idea formed in my head and I took out my junky phone, looking in the history of calls and finding the Vargas' house number, then pressing talk. It rang once, twice, three times, four… then it went to the answering machine, where I left a message hastily.

"Lovi, if you're there, please call me back as soon as you can!"

Then I hung up, forgetting to tell him my number. Wait, he'd said he had caller I.D… but was that just when someone was CALLING or could you just get their number if they EVER called? Being a very poor person, I'd never really had time to deal with technology, so it was still a mystery. Disappointed that he hadn't picked up, I looked over to where the two were playing Barbie's, both Annie and "Lovi" using girl dolls. They were dressing them up and discussing fashion tips. I swear, hearing those words in that semi-deep voice of his had me smiling in a second, forgetting about the issue at hand for a bit.

Hmm, I'd never known that if you had dark hair like mine, tying your scarf a certain way during the winter season brought out your eyes, making you more attractive. I'd have to take that into consideration. I shook myself, trying to get my thoughts back on track. Okay, so Lovi was now super hyper, said _ve_~, gave hugs, smiled, and liked children. I could only think of one person who fit that description. Feliciano, Lovi's much happier twin brother.

So she had done something that made them switch places? Then why hadn't the real Lovino answered the phone when I'd called? Maybe he was still passed out, with nobody being there to wake him up and all. Maybe he was having a really nice dream and he didn't want to wake up because he was enjoying it so much! Huh, what kind of things would Lovi dream about? I wondered if they involved me ever… No, I couldn't get distracted! So, that's what had happened, I decided. I'd try to call him again later.

Meanwhile, my two hours of babysitting were slowly easing by, and I realized that it was Feli doing all the work instead of ME, the babysitter. I walked over and grabbed a Barbie, the manly Ken, and started to play along, which they both allowed with excitement. That made time pass a lot faster, and before I knew it, Annabelle's parent were in the doorway, handing me my paycheck and waving goodbye, calling out their thanks. I suddenly wondered if they knew their daughter was a body switching demon. Oh well, if they didn't know, it was probably best that they never did.

Lovi (Feli) and I got to the car and I suddenly recalled my Lovi panicking about either me or his brother driving his car. Apparently, we both couldn't drive to save our lives. So when Feli hopped in the driver's side I got a little nervous. His driving couldn't be worse than mine though, right? I mean I had never driven before then, so… Feli turned on the car and slammed the pedal down, sending me forward first, then back onto my seat with a painful slam.

I resisted the urge to shriek like a girl and yelled, "SLOW DOWN!"

He complied by slamming on the break, again sending us both forward and back. "_Por favor, _may I drive?" I asked him, hoping he couldn't remember that I didn't have my license.

"But Toni, you don't have your driver's license!"

So much for that.

"True, but you don't know where to take me and it's quite difficult to explain…" I gave him a pleading smile and he looked like he was cracking. "Lovi, I will be careful, I promise!"

His brow furrowed. "_Ve~, _I'm not Lovi. I'm Feli!"

I mentally smacked myself for temporarily forgetting who I was with, at least in spirit. "But your reflection says otherwise…" I decided to tell him, figuring it would be easier if he knew why I kept calling him by his brother's name.

He looked in the mirror closest to him and cried out in surprise. "Why do I have my brother's face?" he panicked.

"It's a long story, _mi amigo, _one that I don't have time to tell. Look, on second thought, could you just drop me off at your house? It's actually easier than explaining to you where you need to go… but drive carefully and slowly, please!"

He nodded and took off again, not driving any slower or more carefully. A normally eight minute trip was cut down to two minutes, and we were at the house, somehow both still in one piece. I got out of the car and looked at my phone for the time. Oh man, if I didn't get moving, I'd be late and he'd… no, no, no, that couldn't happen. I decided to save the Feli-Lovi thing for later, not wanting to get killed at the moment.

I waved goodbye to Lovi (Feli) and took off running, using my long legs to my advantage, striding across the concrete. If I was late, he would kill me and take everything I had. Then, he'd find Lovi's number on my phone, track him down, and shoot him. After that, he would murder both Francis and Gilbert. Finally, he'd find anyone else who had ever had contact with me and brutally slaughter them all until there was no one left to miss me. And no one left to miss them. I controlled whether or not this happened with just one little paycheck.

I prayed to God up in Heaven that I had enough speed to get there before my time, and the time of all the people I loved, ran out.

_Lovino's POV_

When I eventually came to, I had a massive headache that pounding on my brain like a freaking hammer. God, what the fuck… I opened my eyes slowly, wincing at the light, only to see two incredibly worried-looking cerulean eyes practically pressed up against me.

"GAH!" I shouted in terror, sitting up in a hurry, causing the stranger and me to smack heads. "OW! FUCKING, OW, DAMN IT!"

The strange man had backed off and was holding his own head in a way that was similar to my own. He said nothing, but looked at me with surprise and wonder. I looked at him like he was the most horrifying, ugly creature I had ever seen. Damn idiot, making me hit my head… maybe he WAS the ugliest thing I'd ever seen! He had slicked-back blond hair and was dressed in a tight-fitting black t-shirt that showed off his muscles, camo pants, black gloves, and a camo hat. What a freaking creepy weirdo.

"Who the fuck are you?" I yelled at him, while noticing I was somehow back at home.

"Uh, Ludwig. Feliciano, are you feeling alright?" he asked with deep concern.

He had a really manly, unfriendly voice that I didn't trust. "The hell are you calling Feliciano? How do you even know my brother?"

His eyes opened in shock. "Your brother…?"

"Yeah, that's right, damn it, Feliciano's my twin brother! I asked you a question, you damn German, now tell me how you know him!"

"He didn't tell me he had a brother…"

I was appalled. Feli had known this guy for who-knew-how-long, yet he didn't even bring me up? If I wasn't a man, I would've cried. "Just fucking answer me already!"

Looking confused, he told me, "I'm Feliciano's boyfriend."

His words were like a bitch slap to the face. Feliciano's… BOYFRIEND? He'd had a BOYFRIEND and he didn't seem to think it was important to, I don't know, TELL ME? His own TWIN? To make matters worse, it was this guy, who looked way too old for him and like he's molest any child that walked his way! I hadn't even known he was gay, the way he flirted with girls all the time. Or at least that was what I had thought he was doing. Apparently, I was as wrong as I could freaking get. Maybe this damn potato bastard was lying. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Stop lying to me, damn it! I know Feli would tell me if he had a boyfriend! He can't keep anything a secret!"

His eyes narrowed and he looked so dangerous, my heart sped up a little. "I'm not lying to you. He is my boyfriend. How did you get into his body?"

He was really scaring me, the way he was glaring at me like that, but being terrified just made me more defensive. "How the fuck should I know, you potato bastard? I just woke up like this!"

He opened his mouth to respond, but just then the phone rang, causing us both to pause and stare at it in our tension. I would've answered it, but I had to get this stupid situation figured out before anything else, even if the caller was…

"Lovi, if you're there, please call me back as soon as you can!"

Antonio's voice reached us from the answering machine. I wanted so badly to go over and call him back, since he had sounded slightly traumatized and more than a little confused. Maybe… maybe me and Feli and switched places… holy shit, he was there babysitting with my idiotic twin brother instead of me!

"So your name is Lovi?" the blond man asked.

"That's Lovino to you, fucker!" I said, standing up to make myself bigger, only to find him way taller than I was, so much so that he all but loomed over me.

It made me feel extremely threatened and like a child.

"Lovino. I see. Who was that that just called?"

"None of your business."

He raised an eyebrow, but just nodded and looked away for a second. I continued to glare at him with the sourest look I could manage, which he seemed to be ignoring. Then, just as I was about to yell again, he looked back at me.

"I have somebody I have to meet in a little while, so I should be going. When Feliciano gets home, tell him I said that I love him."

With that, he walked out the front door, me screaming after him, "Like hell I will!" It sounded really awkward and weird coming out in Feli's clueless voice, but I was sure it had its affect when the German man turned around and death glared at me, which I returned with fury.

Feliciano's boyfriend was a massive dick. I would have to yell at him about that when he came home from babysitting with Antonio. Suddenly, I realized that the house was completely silent and empty, not a person in sight. I was truly alone right now. This was what I had been wanting for a really long time… yet now that I had it, it was unsettling. I had no idea what to do with myself, so I laid on the couch and turned on the T.V., waiting for the return of Feli and completely forgetting about Antonio's call.

My eyes shot open when I heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway at ninety gazillion miles an hour. I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but I had, and I realized that I had spent all of my alone time doing nothing but sleeping. Well, so much for that. Now it was time to tear my brother apart for keeping secrets from me. I heard my voice (creepy) call out a goodbye to Antonio and then he walked in the house, wearing MY body and using it unjustly.

I stood up and crossed my arms, giving him the oh-you-are-so-dead look our mother used to give us when we were little and had done something wrong. He froze where he was, smile gone, a look of terror on his (my) face. So he knew he was screwed. He apparently was smarter than I thought he was!

"You are in so much fucking trouble!" I yelled at him, which made him start bawling.

I looked really weird and disturbingly cute when I cried.

"Whaaaaaaaa~! I was going to tell you, Lovi! When you came home I was going to introduce you to him! But then…. then I don't know what happened!"

"It would have been hard to introduce someone to me that wasn't even going to be there when I got back, you idiot! He had to leave!"I told him.

He paused for a moment in his sobbing to tell me, "But Wiggie told me that we could have you two meet today… he said he had nothing to do… don't be mad, _fratello!_ He's only been my boyfriend for a week and I couldn't find a way to tell you because he was always busy!"

I narrowed my eyes. "So your stupid potato bastard boyfriend lied to one of us. Feli, if you don't get rid of him, I'll get rid of him for you! And how come you didn't tell him I existed? Huh?"

Sheepishly, he glanced down at the floor. "Well, it never came up…"

"And if you were planning on introducing us today, how come he didn't know you had a brother?"

"_Ve~, _I just told him I was introducing him to someone I knew… whaaaaaa! Don't hit me, Lovi~!"

It was true, I was incredibly pissed off about everything he'd done, but I wasn't going to hit him. Nope. No matter how much I wanted to. I would NOT hit him. Even if my brain was telling my arm to move, I wouldn't do it.

"I'm NOT going to hit you," I said through my lips angrily. "I just can't believe you did all that."

His lip quivered and he looked ashamed. "I'm really, really sorry… But you didn't tell me you and Antonio were together! So you lied too!"

I was taken aback. How did he…? Damn Antonio. "I-It's not the same…"

He looked disbelieving but got over it quick and smiled at me. "Lovi~ I didn't know you were gay~!"

I blushed deeply and could control my arm no longer. I smacked him gently on the top of his head. "Sh-shut up, you damn idiot."

He said, "Owie," but laughed at my reaction, which earned him another smack.

"_Ve~, fratello, _we were both hiding the same thing!"

"What?" I looked at him, shocked.

"We were both hiding our boyfriends from each other!"

Once again, I felt the urge to smack him. "It's different for me because I just agreed to be Antonio's boyfriend to make him shut up! I don't… I don't love him or anything stupid like that…"

Feli looked concerned at that statement. "So, you're just leading him on? That's really mean~."

My face burned. "I'm not fucking leading him on! I just don't love him. How is this any of your damn business anyways? Leave me alone!" I stormed off to my (actual) room, leaving a worried-looking Feli behind to think about everything both he and I had done wrong.

I wasn't in love. For me, that word didn't even exist.


	7. Fucking Love

_Lovino's POV_

I sat in my room, burning with anger and embarrassment for who knew how long about my brother's accusations. We hadn't even been together long enough for me to be doing anything wrong, right? I mean, I wasn't leading him on at all! I did… I did l-like him. But love… I didn't love anyone, not even myself. Damn brother, making me think about weird things! I curled up under my covers, feeling anxious for some reason. What the hell did I have to be anxious about? Maybe living life as my dumb brother was something. How long would I have to put up with this crap? When would we go back to being ourselves so I could just live my life like a normal person? More importantly, how the fuck had this even happened in the first place?

Disgruntled, I sat up again and went out into the living room, smelling the dinner Feli was making. For once, I didn't smell like pasta, which was what we almost always ate. Actually, it smelled more like… I walked into the kitchen to find myself (Feli) making dough. Pizza? For some dumbass reason, I was excited.

"Are you making pizza?" I asked him in his own high, girlish voice.

He looked over at me and smiled, making me cringe. I did NOT look good when I smiled. No wonder I always was frowning. Shaking that thought away, I saw him nod and continue with his dough-making. Impatient for dinner to come now, I walked out of the room, only to be stopped by the phone's beeping, saying that there was one new message. Oh yeah, Antonio had called… I pressed the play button to listen to the message.

"Lovi, if you're there, please call me back as soon as you can!"

Well better late than never, I supposed. I picked up the phone and dialed the number that went across my caller I.D. screen. It rang about four times, and I expected it to go to his answering machine or something, but right at the last second, he picked up.

"L-Lovi?" he panted.

I looked at the phone, in shock. He sounded like he was in pain and gasping for air. "Antonio? What the hell is wrong with you?"

It was quiet for a minute, but finally he laughed in a concerning, airy way and said, "I was a little late… I'm very sorry, Lovi, but I don't think I'll be I school tomorrow…"

"Tell me what the fuck happened to you!" I yelled, feeling slightly sick at the sound of his strained breathing.

"_Te quierdo, _Lovi. _Te quierdo._ I will protect you…" Then he hung up, right as a deep, booming voice came on the line from the background.

I had never felt so terrified in my whole life. "F-FUCK!" I cried, putting the phone back in its cradle and running back into the kitchen, not sure what I was going to do.

"Feli! Where did Antonio go?" I grabbed the front of his shirt in my haste, the second after he stuck our pizza in the oven. "Don't look at me like that, damn it! Where the fuck did Antonio go after you said goodbye?" I was viciously shaking him, losing my control.

I had to find him and… and what? Protect him? Pfft, as if I ever could… But I knew I had to do something! I couldn't just freaking sit here and eat delicious homemade pizza while he… bled out in some gutter…

Feli, in my body, was crying of course, as was usual for him, and wailing, "I don't know,_ fratello! _I don't know! He just said goodbye and walked away! Whaaaaaa~!"

Frustrated, I tossed him away and went back to the phone, dialing his number again. I would figure out what the hell was going on… I was surprised when someone answered. My heart leapt, only to grow cold when I heard who it wasn't.

"Lovino Vargas." It was extremely deep and menacing, but I had to stand up for myself and for my b-b-boyfriend.

"Yeah? What the fuck is it to you? Where the hell is Antonio, you fucker?"

"Antonio is no longer here. He gave me what I wanted, so I sent him home."

"Then what the hell are you still doing with his damn phone?"

His answer sent shivers down my spine. He just laughed, a loud rumble, and hung up, pissing me off.

How many more times was that going to happen to me today? I put the phone up and sank down onto the floor in defeat. Fuck my life. Fuck that guy who had sounded so familiar, though I couldn't place the voice. Fuck it all! I punched the wall in my fury, only to feel and uncomfortable crack in my now weak knuckles. God, Feliciano was a wimp. Now sore, I rubbed them and felt my eyes tear up, whether in response to the pain or the situation, I wasn't sure. Either way, Feli's damn over productive tear ducts had drops of salty water dripping down my face within seconds.

" _Ve~, _Lovi~! Dinner's…" Feli called, walking over to where I was, only to see me in the state I was in. "_Fratello…_" he leaned down next to me and pulled me in for a hug again.

I couldn't say I didn't need it. Even if it was weird being hugged by my creepily smiling self.

"What's wrong?" he asked me after awhile.

"Antonio… something happened to him, but I don't know what to do, damn it!" I punched the wall again, with the same hand, causing more pain.

"To Toni?" he cocked his head to the side, causing my curl to bounce. "_Ve~, _what happened?"

"The hell should I know!" I lashed out, pushing him away, going to the kitchen for the pizza that waited there.

"I know! I'll call Wiggie!" Feli exclaimed. "He can help us find Toni! He's a good tracker!"

I had the pizza halfway in my mouth when he said those words. Suddenly, I realized something and began to choke furiously. He had…he had been that mother fucker on the phone!

"Don't you DARE call that fucking potato bastard!" I yelled when my choking episode was done.

Too bad it was too late. Feli had already left and gotten the phone, and was currently talking to Antonio's attacker. I was sure it had been him who had made my boyfriend talk that way on the phone. I shoved Feli down, a difficult task in this pathetic body, and snatched the phone, through my brother's cries of displeasure.

"Feliciano?" I heard the dick say.

"Tell me where the fuck he is and what you did to him, you bastard, or I swear I'll destroy you the next time you come over!"

"Ah, Lovino. What I did to who?" he seemed genuinely confused, but that was just an act and I knew better.

I snarled, "Don't you play dumb with me, you damn monster! Where the hell is ANTONIO?"

"_F-fratello!_ What are you talking about? That's Wiggie!" Feli cried from under my foot.

"I know who I'm talking to, damn it! He's the one who did this to Antonio!"

I heard silence from both Ludwig and his "boyfriend" who I was currently stepping on. Then the German explained how he was looking for Antonio because Feli was worried about him while I said bullshit over and over. That was what this was. Complete and utter bullshit! I would find Antonio if it was the last thing I did.

"Okay, fine. If you're looking for Antonio, then where the fuck are you at?"

Right as I finished my sentence, the line went dead.

"Big Brother!" Feli whined. I took my foot off him and he stole the phone from my hands. "Wiggie?" He looked at me accusingly. "You hung up on him?"

I was appalled at this statement. "I hung up on HIM? No, damn it, that bastard hurt Antonio and hung up on me! Twice!"

Feliciano looked at me, still accusingly, as if I was the one who was lying. For the first time I'd ever seen, he didn't believe me. He had chosen his abusive boyfriend over me, his own flesh and blood. Just as I was about to smack some sense into his stupid little head with some very vulgar words, the doorbell rang and we both froze, looking over to the front hallway. I was the first to react and flung the door open hastily, hoping it was Antonio. I was partially right. I had opened the door to find Ludwig, pale and sweaty, holding an unconscious and severely beaten Antonio in his arms, as if he were cradling a little baby.

All I could do was stare and feel everything I knew crumble around me. Not once had I ever felt the desire to tell anyone how I felt about them ever before, unless of course it was to tell them how much I fucking hated their guts. But now, looking at the beaten Spaniard before me, who was just barely hanging on, I realized that I wanted to tell him how much he really meant to me, despite the fence I had put up between myself and him. I wanted to tell him… tell him….

"A-Antonio…" I whimpered, grabbing his hand. "What the hell…?"

Shocking me, he opened his eyes slightly, saw my face, and broke out into a huge grin. "Oh…" he said through his heavy breathing. "I'm so glad you're okay… Feli…"

Feli? Was he talking to the guy who was now sobbing behind me, peeking out from behind my shoulder? Or had he forgotten that the switch had happened in the first place? Did he really think that I was my brother and that he was me? I felt my stomach tighten, in fear that he had lost his memories of everything that had happened the past few days. Everything that had changed my life so dramatically.

Ludwig the damn potato bastard went and put my bruised boyfriend on the couch, moving with extra sensitivity and care, being sure not to hurt him, though Antonio did flinch a little. Then he went over to Feli and put his arms around him, pulling into a hug.

I'd have to remember to sanitize my whole body later. I sat on the ground next to Antonio's face, looking at him with exaggerated concentration. His body trembled with laughter as his eyes met mine. Even bruised and broken, he was really… b-beautiful. Damn him and his charming self. He reached over and stroked my face, giving me hope that he actually did remember who I was.

"F-Feli, where's Lovi? Where's my little Lovino?" he asked me, taking me by surprise.

"What? I'm Lovi, damn it! Don't you remember that somehow we switched places earlier today? When we were babysitting Annabelle?"

He looked at me blankly, then asked, "Who's Annabelle?"

I was completely lost in what to do. He had obviously forgotten who we all were and what had happened today. The fact that he couldn't remember Annabelle at all was what scared me the most. To forget a person ever existed was worse than forgetting they'd traded places somehow magically. If I could recall right, which of course I could, he had remembered it was me earlier on the phone, which hadn't been that long ago. How had he ended up forgetting everything just like that?

I glared at Ludwig, feeling that he had something to do with this whole situation. I knew this was all his doing, but no matter what I said, no one would ever believe me. But how would I get Antonio to remember so I could bust whoever the hell had hurt him so badly? Using all the brainpower I had, I decided that maybe if he slept, it would all come back to him.

"Antonio, why don't you sleep for awhile?" I suggested, pulling a blanket over him.

When he yawned, I realized that he was unopposed to my plan and he quickly closed his eyes and fell asleep, his breathing even and relieving to my stress. I waited until Feli dragged his potato bastard into the kitchen, telling him to eat some pizza with us to lean down and, double-checking to make sure nobody saw it, kissed him on the cheek, flushing after I did. He just kept right on grinning in his sleep, though I was sure a faint blush seeped across his cheeks.

I had to tell him. I really did fucking love him.

_Antonio's POV_

I was running as fast as I possibly could, I was sure of that. I kept checking my phone, looking at the time nervously as I rounded the bend into the dark alley where he always waited for me. Tonight, I saw when he came into view, he had company. The other shadows shifted anxiously as I walked up, now going as slow as I possibly could. I was late, by two minutes. I hadn't made it in time. For that, I would be punished, though hopefully they wouldn't find _mi amor. _Suddenly, light blue eyes honed in on me and darkened in fierce anger.

"You're late, Antonio," he growled in his deep voice.

"Yes, I'm very sorry," I told him. "But I have the money right he-"

I was cut off by the sound of my own face being slapped painfully and the check was ripped from my grasp. "Take care of him."

Suddenly there was pain all over, my body being thrashed and beaten, pounded from all sides everywhere. I tried my best to fight back, but there were too many of them, and all the street fighting skills in the world couldn't have saved me from losing this battle. Finally, when they'd had their fill, they threw me, bleeding, onto the pavement in front of their leader. He bent his huge figure down and tilted my chin upward so I'd look into his eyes.

"Beg me and I won't kill Lovino."

His simple words cut into my heart and I felt my body go cold. "Wh-what?" I managed to say through the pain in my jaw.

His blond, slicked back hair fell into his face slightly as he looked down on me. "Beg and I won't kill your boyfriend."

I gasped, spitting out blood and feeling completely desperate. "Okay… please, don't touch my Lovi! Please…. He doesn't deserve to be involved in any of this! I beg you, don't hurt him! I'll do anything! I love him so much… if something were to ever happen… Just p-please don't. _Por favor…"_

He smiled down at my battered body and threw my face away, causing it to hit the pavement. "The only thing that will stop me from killing him is if you do everything that I say."

"I will do everything you want just as long as you don't touch a hair on my Lovi's head." It was a promise I knew I could keep, for the sake of Lovino.

His laugh had me crying inside. I knew he was going to make me do something really, really bad. "Tonight at ten you better meet me here and I'll show you what happens to you when you don't give me my money on time. Or," he said, cocking his gun menacingly, "Lovino dies."

"LOVI!" I screamed, my eyes snapping open only to find the concerned amber eyes of Lovi's brother Feli looking at me. Oh, had that been a dream? I panted heavily, staring at Feli to make sure THIS wasn't the dream.

He seemed pretty real, yet when the words, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" came out of his mouth, I almost panicked. That was NOT something Feliciano would say. Actually, it sounded more like… Lovi. With a start, I remembered everything that had happened the past few days, including the body switching and I smiled, pulling the confused boy into my throbbing chest.

"Hey, what the hell? First you shriek my name for all the fucking neighborhood to hear, and next you shove my face into your nasty, sweaty chest? Get off of me!"

"Oh, Lovi… I'm so glad you're okay! He didn't do anything to you! But…" I sat up, panicked again and looked around for a clock. "What time is it?"

"About ten-thirty. Why?" he asked me, like his life was unimportant to him.

I felt the color drain from my face. Shaking, I stood up and tried to walk away, but I collapsed the second I tried and was dragged back to the couch and again covered in the blanket while Lovi cussed at me for trying to move like a "dumbass", as he put it.

"I h-have t-to… go meet him…"

Angry, as always, Lovino growled, "Who? Who the fuck do you have to meet? What jackass did this to you?"

Just as I was about to tell him everything, Feli walked in the room with a tall, muscular German man holding his hand. I just about threw up in terror. "L-Ludwig?" I squeaked unintentionally.

All three of the other men turned and looked at me, one in surprise, one in anger, the other in acknowledgement. I cowered underneath my blanket, trying not to let them all know how terrified I was.

"You know Wiggie?" Feli asked. Then he looked up at his apparent boyfriend. "I didn't know you knew Toni!"

"Yeah. We're in gym together," is what the man chose to say.

Lovi wasn't having any of that. He saw the way I was cowering and he pointed to him, saying, "You motherfucking son of a bitch! What the hell is this?"

"What is what?" the indifferent Ludwig answered.

"You did this to him damn it!"

Feli cried, "Wiggie wouldn't do anything like that! Would you?"

Lugwig shook his head no silently. His eyes were confused, like he truly had no clue what was going on here. This was a different version of the man I had always known him as.

After all, the only thing I'd ever known him as was a killer out for my blood.


	8. Sleep With Me?

_Lovino's POV_

"Don't fucking lie, you bastard! If you didn't do it, then who did? And tell us where you were when this happened!"

The blond man looked like he was trying really hard to think and he finally said, "The last thing I remember was walking in an alley. Then Feliciano called… and told me to help find Antonio. I knew who he was because he is in gym with me. I walked a little further and found him beaten up, trying desperately to walk, but he kept falling down, and so I brought him here."

I couldn't believe the stream of lies he was feeding us. "What, you fucking forgot talking to me and then saying that you had to go?"

The bastard raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. "No, I didn't forget talking to you. Mostly. I don't ever remember saying I had to go."

This was too freaking hard! If he wasn't lying, which he was, and he had completely forgotten what had went on, then… was he the asshole who had beaten up Antonio? I looked over at his frightened face and felt anger rise again. There was no way he could mistake the person who had done this to him, and it was clear it was the man who was holding hands with my _fratello._ I clenched my fists as hard as I could, trying to contain myself from punching the German right in the face.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath, frustrated.

"_Ve~, _I'm confused… Toni~ do you want some pizza?" Feli asked, rapidly changing the subject as everyone became tense.

Even Antonio was thrown for a loop at his lack of atmospheric reading, but he recovered quickly and said, "SÍ! That sounds very good, though I might have to have Lovi chew it for me first! I don't know if I have the energy…"

If he hadn't already been gasping for air, I would've have strangled him. I felt my face go red and tried to hide it by looking at a wall and hissing, "You damn idiot…"

Antonio laughed and he was actually sounding a little bit better than he had not too long ago. That nap must've helped. I turned back to see that Feli had dispatched to go get the pizza. My stomach growled at me, reminding me that I had never eaten dinner. I had been too panicked to even consider food. I decided to go get some food now, since Antonio was going to be eating too, and stood up, walking past the potato bastard tensely. I went into the kitchen to find my brother holding four plates instead of just one.

"The hell do you think you're doing? Didn't you and your… didn't you two already eat?"

"Well, yes, but Wiggie's a big guy and he only ate one piece, I'm still hungry, and I thought you'd be hungry too since you never ate… Lovi~ I never knew you were always hungry! I am too!"

I cringed. "Yeah, I noticed. Except unlike you, I like to eat things other than pasta."

"Hey, _ve, _I don't! I like pizza~!" He seemed to think that changed things and went back to giving everyone two pieces, smiling like usual.

I stole the two plates he had already prepared and went back out into the living room, breaking a seriously awkward silence that the two men had been in the midst of. I tossed the plate onto Antonio's stomach, surprised when the pizza didn't fly off onto the couch. He gave me a smile and winced as he moved his arm to pick it up and bring it to his mouth. Maybe he hadn't been kidding about me pre-chewing it for him. Not that I fucking wanted to or anything! It sounded completely disgusting… I bit into my pizza, looking away to hide my blush again.

Feli came in not too long after, handing his damn boyfriend dinner, which he didn't appear to want, but he took it and ate it anyways. My brother sucked the pizza down, just as I always did, since pizza was close to my favorite food. His stupid mouth was smaller than mine, so it was really difficult to suck ANYTHING down. I froze as a weird thought crossed my mind after that. My face flamed and I stared down at my plate, completely mortified that I could even think such a damn thing.

After "Ludwig" had finished his food, he told Feli that he had to go since it was a school night and also getting late. My mouth dropped open and I watched in horror as he bent down and kissed Feli, who was still currently IN MY BODY, and as my brother returned it, not even THINKING ABOUT IT? THE FUCK WAS HE DOING? I drew the line when I could have sworn I saw tongue get involved.

"Have you forgotten whose FUCKING BODY YOU ARE IN?" I yelled, shoving myself in between them.

Apparently they both had, and reddened in unison, embarrassed at their actions. As they should have been. The hell…. I'd need to buy some mouthwash. Screw some. LOTS. I shoved the big German out the door the second I could and slammed it behind him, puffing up like I had actually done something. Feli was staring at his feet and fidgeting nervously. Calmly, I went over to him and smacked his head, not too hard, but hard enough.

"Whaaaaaa!" he sobbed. "I was just kissing him!"

"I don't even want you to do that in your OWN body, much less mine! You're dating a damn lying bastard who did this too Antonio. Do you really love him so much that you don't care that he's beating up MY boyfri-" I caught myself before the whole word slipped out, blushing like crazy because said boyfriend was in the same room.

"No, Lovi, I know he didn't do it! It may sound bad that he can't explain what he was doing… but he didn't do it! Wiggie's a good guy, _fratello._ I love him."

I flinched at how easily he said the word love. How could I possibly be jealous of Feli though? That would just be stupid. I wasn't jealous just because he could say what he felt out loud! No, that'd be dumb as hell.

"Whatever…" I told him, going to sit by Antonio, who was still trying to finish his first slice of pizza. "Just go to fucking bed."

"Aww, but I want to stay up with you and Toni-"

"Go to bed, damn it! That's my body and I want it to be well-rested. And don't sleep naked either!" I yelled after him as he complied, trudging into his room.

I looked back down to find Antonio laughing quietly. "Just a question? Why can't he sleep naked?"

"B-because I don't want him to, that's why, damn it!"

"_Por qu__é__?"_

"Is it so fucking weird that I don't want my brother to see me naked?

He seemed taken aback for a second, only to burst into incredibly loud laughter and say, "No, no, it's not weird! But now I have a question… if he sleeps naked, then do you as well?"

I probably was redder than the reddest thing in the world right now. Damn him. "Why the hell does that matter? Go back to fucking sleep, you bastard!"

"I take that as a yes!"

"When are you going home?" I asked, suddenly eager to kick him out.

"I…" The house phone rang suddenly and I stormed off to go get it.

"The fuck do you want?" I answered.

"That was so not awesome! You can't talk to someone as awesome as I am like that! But whatever, the awesome me wants to know if Toni is over there?" Gilbert replied, slightly confused, probably about the fact I had my brother's gay voice.

I ground my teeth and prepared for the most annoying phone conversation of my life. "How in hell did you get my phone number?"

"Well… Francis called Toni's cell phone, but some not awesome guy answered so we asked for your number and he gave it to us! Now where is Toni, the awesome me's awesome friend who is almost as awesome yet not quite as awesomely awesome as myself?"

"In my fucking living room, you narcissistic bastard! The damn German who told you my number beat the crap out of him! I told you to fucking take care of him and you didn't! He's never going back to living in that crappy house with you two dumbasses to just starve to death if I have anything to say about it! FUCK… YOU!" I slammed the phone down as hard as I could.

The quiet after the call sounded really eerie, but I didn't have to think about it too long. After a minute, I heard more laughter coming from the living room. So he had heard the whole entire thing… I guess it was difficult not to with me screaming at the top of my lungs. I stormed back into the room and crossed my arms, glaring at him.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

"N-n-nothing!" he giggled. "Oh, Lovino, _te quierdo!_ You're so funny! I love you so much! Thank you for finally yelling at Gilbert! He really needed someone to tell him off like that!"

I flushed and muttered something unintelligible.

"So… I'm never going back to their house, eh?"

"Shut up. I just don't think it's good for you, that's all!"

"Are you worried about me?"

"F-f-f-f-fuck NO!" I lied, horribly I had to admit. God damn stuttering just gave it all away.

I squeaked as I was pulled down to where he was and hugged with all the might a bruised person could muster. His face got really close to mine and suddenly, all my thoughts became incoherent. He barely breathed the words, "You are my angel…" before he pressed his lips softly against mine for the second time. I couldn't process fast enough to realize that I was kissing him back, or letting him deepen the kiss, or even putting my arms around him. My mind was moving too slow for me to think about anything that had happened earlier… or… anything at all…

_"Fratello!_" a shocked voice exclaimed from somewhere behind me.

Just like that, everything was thrown back into perspective and I shoved Antonio off of me, turning to look at my surprised twin, face boiling. "Wh-what do you want?"

"So you can kiss Toni in my body, but I can't kiss Wiggie in yours?" Feli asked, looking like a pouty child.

"N-n-no! That's not… this wasn't…. Feli, this wasn't even supposed to happen! He fucking did it to me, I didn't do it to him!"

"But I didn't do I to Wiggie either…"

"Yeah but you accepted it!"

"You were accepting it too, _fratello…"_

Suddenly, I was completely mortified about the whole situation and just mumbled, "Fine, what the hell ever. I'm sorry. HE won't kiss me again until… he's never going to kiss me again! Go back to bed, damn it…"

"Okay, Lovi…" Again, he went to bed and I turned the conversation as fast as I could.

"Did Ludwig do this to you?"

"Uh, yes he did, but that is not the same Ludwig that hurt me! The one that hurt me is bloodthirsty, yet it's only my blood that soothes him…"

"Why?"

He sighed and looked towards the ceiling. "The Ludwig that I know is the leader of a gang. One that I… one that I was part of… but that was when I first moved here! I didn't want to be part of it, but I was forced by some people… I haven't been honest with you…" He started to take off his shirt, and I felt my heart start pounding.

"Wh-wh-what the hell are you doing?"

When he got it all the way off, I saw nothing but bruises and bloody cuts. I felt Feli's stupid tear ducts activate again and I almost burst into tears like a pussy. But I was cut off by his words. "The scar, the one that runs from my shoulder to my hip? I've never camped before in my life. I've never hugged a bear cub, no matter how cute they are. This was my forced initiation into the group. I struggled to get away, so they dragged a knife across my back to incapacitate me. That was the first time I ever thought was going to die… there was so much blood. They said they'd only save my life if I became part of the gang.

"I was a complete_ idiota _to only care about my own life like that and agree, because now all of the people I love the most, like you and Feli, and Gilbert and Francis, are all in danger. If I don't continue to give Ludwig my money, he's going to kill you all and I'll have nothing left. He'll wait for me to beg to die before he finally puts a bullet through my head. He'll wait until I'm on the verge of taking my own life, then he'll steal the pleasure and kill me. That's the Ludwig I've known since I moved here, not the silent one that seems to be very deeply in love with your brother. That's the one that beat me up tonight."

I was overcome with the weirdest emotions after his explanation. Hate was the strongest, followed by incredible sadness, a burning passion to kick some ass, fear for both his life and my own, and another thing that was somewhat like a possessive feeling, only a little warmer than that. Either way, Ludwig was a motherfucking lying potato bastard who would pay for making this man crumble like he had.

"D-d-damn it!" I cried, not realizing tears were coming from my eyes until I felt them run down my cheeks. I wiped at them hastily, not wanting to show the weakness, but they were just replaced by the now constant flow. "I'm going to fucking KILL HIM!"

"Lovi…" He sounded so loving, I had to look over at him. With a smile he stroked my cheek and said, "You don't have to do anything for me… Please, don't get involved. I would kill myself if you ever ended up dead. I love you…"

Now was my chance and I knew it. He had just confessed his love for me by telling me he'd die if I was killed, and I couldn't get the words "I love you" out? Mentally, I smacked myself and opened my mouth, hoping that the words would come out the way I wanted. "I-I… That's stupid! Why would you kill yourself over me?"

Damn it!

"Because without you, the world has no meaning to me."

My face, luckily, had already been about a million degrees, so he couldn't see it get the slightest fractional bit redder. "D-don't say things like that! I'm going to bed…" I started to storm off, but my better, more paternal instinct made me turn around and offer him my room. "Uhm, would you rather sleep on a bed…?"

"Lovi, you don't have to give up your bed to me. I've slept in worse places than a couch, _mi amor!_"

"What I meant was get your ass off the couch and go sleep in my bed! It's not an option!"

He smiled his amazing smile and said with that perverted gleam in his eye, "I'll only sleep in your bed if I'm sleeping with you!"

"FUCK NO." I walked over to the couch and tried to lift his heavy body, but Feli's noodle arms probably couldn't life a heavy puppy. "Damn it, Feli needs to work out!"

Antonio said, "Don't try, my Lovi. I can get up by myself!"

I looked at him in disbelief, but he started to try anyway. He got himself standing, but the second he tried to take a step, he wobbled and started to fall. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, (which I had had no idea Feli had in his body) I darted over and somehow managed to pick him all the way up and bring him into my room, where I put him on the bed and then collapsed on the floor. So, he didn't have very much. Figured.

"Wow that was incredible Lovi!" Antonio laughed. "_Gracias, mi amor!_ But where will you sleep now.

"The… couch…" I panted. "Or maybe the floor."

"What if I asked really nicely?" he wondered.

"Asked what really nicely?" I asked him.

"Lovi, will you sleep with me?"

"You have GOT to be fucking kidding with me."

He frowned and stuck out his bottom lip, green eyes shining in the dim light, making them stand out and distract me. "No, Lovi… I just really don't want to be alone…"

I hadn't realized that he hadn't put his shirt back on until that moment, the way the moon shone down on him reminding me of that fact. Did I want to say yes to this idiot? I couldn't tell, my feelings were a little jumbled, because unlike Feli, I couldn't forget whose body I was in at the moment. At least not more than once. It would be just like Feli sleeping with my boyfriend instead of me. That thought turned me off and I yanked a pillow off my bed and left the room grumbling goodnight to him.

"Goodnight, Lovi…"

Damn him and his sexy, half-naked body in the moonlight and his ability to make his eyes light up on demand! As I lay out on the couch and thought about it, I found that in reality, I had wanted to say yes to him with all my heart. Under different circumstances, I would have agreed to sleeping with him. And that in itself was a very, very dangerous thing. He possessed something that not many, if any other people at all, did. He was the only who could bend my will and make me vulnerable to everyone else's ridicule.

He was the one who could break me if he ever chose to.


	9. Opposite Day

Antonio looked pretty good in his native Spanish clothes. There was no way I could doubt something like that. He looked even better when he danced, the way his body moved, pulling me in, making me want him a little more than I should have. My heart throbbed as he came over to me, smiling, looking absolutely sexy… and held his hand out for me to take. W-wait, he wanted ME to dance? No… I felt myself being pulled out to the dance floor and pressed closely against the slightly larger man's body.

I panicked, trying to get away from him, but he held his grip, even as I pled for mercy. I HATED dancing and I sucked at it, two good reasons to get away from him. But even as I frantically explained this to him, Antonio kept on grinning and started to dance again, only instead of his graceful, lone self, he now was leading me, a klutzy and freaked out Italian, around and around. When I realized I wasn't tripping all over his feet and screwing up everything, I actually started to have fun, laughing with him as we went along.

He stared down at me like I was the only thing in the world, his eyes a bright and sparkling green, embarrassing me. I looked away, only to have my face gently nudged by soft hands, forcing me to look back at him. I could barely stand what I was seeing, yet it was the most incredible thing in the world… Antonio started leading me the other way, which didn't seem to fit to the music. I decided against questioning it, at least until I felt myself falling, having been gently shoved down by the Spaniard. I honestly thought I was going to fall down and break my head open on the floor, until I felt my body make contact with a fluffy surface.

I had closed my eyes as I fell, but now I opened them, only to find Antonio right above me. Shocked to have him so close, I pushed on his chest, but it had no effect. He stayed right where he was, all but on top of me. I watched him with wide eyes as he slowly leaned down to kiss me, for once in a not-so-gentle way. I was terrified, but I kissed him back, hoping desperately that he wasn't going to do what I thought… Then he started to take my shirt off…

My eyes flew open, my breathing heavy and my face flushed. The first thing I did was say every single Italian cuss word I could think of, especially when I saw who was sitting on the couch across from me. He seemed extremely amused and that instantly made me defensive.

"What the fuck are you smiling about?" I demanded, which made him smile even more.

"_Nada~!_" he said, drawing the word out, making me suspicious.

"Tell me damn it!"

"Oh, sounds like my Lovi woke up on the wrong side of the couch!"

I snarled, "Yeah, and whose fucking fault was that? You were the one who had to go and get the crap beat out of you and then come crying to me!"

He sighed, somehow still smiling. "Yes, but YOU" he said, poking me on the nose when he said "you", "are the one who demanded I never go to Gilbert and Francis' house again AND the one who demanded that I take the bed instead of the couch like I said I would! So, little Lovi, it's actually your fault!"

"Fine. Whatever. Everything is always my damn fault anyways. So why the hell were you smiling at me like that?" I asked, getting up and stretching, feeling exhausted and cranky.

His smile grew wide and creepy again. "Well, _mi amor, _it's a little hard to ignore it when you're moaning my name like that in your sleep!"

I froze, my arm still up, and stared in horror at him. N-no… he had to be kidding. He HAD TO BE FUCKING KIDDING. "Wh-wh-what?"

He cocked his head to the side and started to attempt to look cute. "Lovi, will you please, please, please tell me what you were dreaming about?"

"FUCK NO!" I screeched, chucking the nearest pillow right into his face and making my escape into the kitchen.

I was surprised to find Feli already cooking breakfast as he usually did. Jeez, had EVERYBODY heard me dreaming or something? He heard me come in and turned to give me his clueless smile.

"_Ve~, _good morning, Lovi~! Did you sleep well?"

"The hell are you getting at?" I asked, self-conscious.

"Well you seemed to be sleeping really well when I came out… so I was just wondering if you slept as good as you seemed to be!" he replied innocently.

A little TOO innocently.

Grumpily, I watched him making our omelets. How come he had ended up with all the skill in the family? What did I have? Fucking nothing. Nothing but the ability to cuss every single person who pissed me off out sufficiently. It made my mood even fouler to see him doing what he did in MY body. Somehow, even though I was nowhere near as graceful as he was, he seemed to be making my movements smooth and controlled in a way that I could never manage. AND IT WAS MY DAMN BODY! MY BODY! MINE! Even pissier than before, I decided I would rather be being teased by Antonio than watch this display.

I went back out into the living room, only to find the Spaniard reading a book. He looked a lot like he had in the library a couple days ago, all eager and excited. Only this time he was reading something I wasn't familiar with… Junjou Romantica. I hadn't even known we'd owned something like that… I went over and peeked over his shoulder, only to find… wait, what the hell? Was he reading gay porn?

"What the fuck are you reading?"

He finally seemed to notice me and looked up, turning the book so I could see the cover, big grin plastered on his face. "I didn't know you read stuff like this, Lovi!"

"Th-that's not mine, damn it! I don't read fucking gay porn! Feli, you bastard, get in here!" I snatched the book away from Antonio, who complained, but let me scold my brother.

His head popped through the doorway and he started to ask me what I wanted until he saw the book I had in my hand, to which he "eep!"ed and ran back into the kitchen. I stalked in after him and saw the breakfast was ready, but tried not to let that distract me from my original purpose. Feli cowered away from me as I stomped right up to him, showing him the extremely lewd scene on the page where Antonio had been.

"The fuck is this, Feli?"

"Whaaaaa! It's a book… I got it from my friend Kiku! He said I would like it!"

I glared heavily. "Who is this Kiku? I'm going to kick his ass."

"_Fratello!_ Why don't you read it instead of getting mad at me… or hurting Kiku. I'm sure you would like it!"

I was completely and utterly astounded by his statement. "You think just because I happen to have a… a b-bo.. a you-know-what, that I want to see pictures of two guys fucking each other endlessly?"

He thought about for a moment, looked at me, then at the picture, then back at me, nodding.

With a groan, I went back into the living room and threw the sick book back at Antonio, who easily found his page again and shamelessly started reading it, right in front of me. What could Antonio and Feliciano find so damn entertaining about watching two men have buttsex? Suddenly, last night's dream flooded into my mind and I realized apparently my subconscious mind knew what was so awesome about it. I plopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh, until Feli brought out the food.

I dug in as fast as I could and got the hell out of the room so I could change and get ready for school today. Then it somehow hit me that Antonio had nothing to wear but his dirty clothes from yesterday and, being the wonderful boyfriend I was, I picked out some clothes that were a little big for me and threw them out of me room at the back of his unsuspecting head.

I didn't wait to hear him be eternally grateful, but went into the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth. When I came out, I was face to face with him, wearing my clothes that were still the tiniest little bit too small for him. They squeezed his body tightly in all the right places. I walked around him hastily and waited for him to finish getting ready before practically shoving him in the car before we were late.

We got to school with just enough time to spare, me having to try to remember my brother's schedule as I ran down the hall. I barely made it into his class before the final bell rang, slipping into the desk with unfamiliar faces all around me, whispering and gossiping. One blond kid with glasses in particular was extremely annoying to me. It was like he had no clue how to whisper, or rather like he wasn't even trying. He laughed obnoxiously as a girl behind him told him to be quiet and said something else loudly that I tried to ignore.

"Shut up, you bloody git…" I heard the familiar voice of Arthur command the other boy.

I turned to see him, wondering how our "project" was doing. I came face to face with a broken lump of plastic, silently bending in impossible positions. I stared in horror as it started to cry, sounding mangled and deep, but was shut off when Arthur punched it. Instinctively, I reached out and took it, just looking down at it in sheer displeasure.

"You KILLED our baby!" I told him.

He gave me a dirty look and stole it back saying, "It's not your baby! It's mine and Lovino's. Bloody hell, Alfred, will you stop talking already? You're giving me a headache!"

"Damn! I didn't even mangle it like that!"

Everyone around me froze, looking surprised at my choice of words. Oh yeah. Right. God damn it. I was still in Feli's stupid body. So I had basically just made him cuss… I supposed that would be a little shocking. Well I had to fix it somehow and try to talk like him…

"That's what my _fratello _would say if he saw the baby! P-poor thing… poor little fu… cute little baby!"

They looked at me strangely, but went back to what they were doing. Some Asian guy leaned over from the seat next to me and said, "What was that about?"

I turned to him, trying to figure out why this stranger with a weird haircut was trying to communicate with me. My brain went back to this morning when Feli had said something about a bastard named Kiku. Could this be him…?

"K-Kiku?"

"_Hai?" _

"You! You're the one with the mansex books!" I blurted uncontrollably.

"Uh… are you referring to the yaoi I gave you? I take it you liked it?" he asked, sounding a little confused but happier towards the end.

"Oh uh… yeah. It was…. Good." I felt ridiculous, being forced into saying gay porn was good.

He seemed excited and dug into his backpack, bringing out more books and giving them to me. "I have a lot more!"

Trying to keep a dorky smile in my face I told him, "Thanks…"

He nodded to say "you're welcome".

And that was how my damned first hour went.

The rest of the time until lunch was just as awkward, with me trying to fake being Feli and even being asked by a random girl why I wasn't saying _ve~ _like usual. I politely ignored her and she never asked again, so I was in the clear. If we didn't get this figured out before tomorrow, I was going to kill something.

I walked into lunch just in time to meet up with a confused-looking Feli. He saw me and stuck to me like glue, getting weird looks from all of my classmates.

"The hell did you do to make people look at you like that? Can't you even try to act like me, damn it?"

"_Ve~, _I tried! But I felt dirty saying all of those naughty things… I just can't say potty words, _fratello! _And frowning all the time gets really hard… it starts to hurt my face…"

I shoved him off, got my lunch, and tried halfheartedly to run away from him. It didn't work, sadly. I started my normal lunch process, even managing to ignore Antonio's obnoxious friends as they came up beside me and Feli.

"So you can yell actually cuss at the awesome me?" he asked the person he thought was Feli. "I didn't think you had it in you!" Annoyingly, he poked my side, where my brother was still ticklish.

"_Oui, _it was very… different! You sounded just like your _frère!"_

"Haha, yeah, I was imitating Lovi because I thought it'd be funny! He got angry though…" I tried desperately, not knowing exactly what my brother would say at this point.

"Yeah! I got so mad!" Feli said.

Oh my God. He failed. He was completely ruining my reputation with his cutsie way of saying things, making me sound more like a pussy than I ever had.

Francis and Gilbert shared a look and kept shifting their eyes over me and my brother. They knew what was going on. I just knew it. I felt mysteriously sick, even though it didn't matter if they knew or not really.

"The awesome me has figured this out!" Gilbert announced. "I know what's going on!"

"Wh-what?" I asked nervously.

"It's Opposite Day, the most awesomest awesome holiday since my birthday!"

I almost facepalmed at the idiocy going on around me. Almost. But I got my act together and said, "Yup! Today I get to act like Lovi and he gets to act like me! It's so fun~!"

Francis smiled, pulling a rose out of thin air. "Ah, _c'est magnifique!"_

"Hey, Francis, awesome me is going to be less awesome you today, alright? Okay, okay! Ooh lala, _je suis monsieur Weewee!_ I am _moins _awesome than my awesomely awesome friend, the sexy awesome Gilbert!"

The Frenchman didn't look amused by this sentiment and retorted with, "Okay, but if you are me then I am you! Look at how AWESOME I am! I'm so AWESOME that even my AWESOME bird, Mr. TweetTweet that somehow is always stuck to my EXTREMELY AWESOME head thinks the AWESOME me is AWESOME!"

And this was the shit that we started.

"That's THE AWESOME MR. TWEETTWEET TO YOU!"

Antonio showed up right in time to hear that, but seemed to be more focused on walking to the table without hurting himself. He still had tons of bruises and I had forgotten. I watched, cursing myself out for not helping him. How come I couldn't get up and help him? Feli would've, if he hadn't been so distracted by the fact that he was just now noticing the little yellow bird sitting on top of Gilbert's mop of grayish- white hair. So I just stared as he sat down, flinching in pain at the movement. He looked tired, but he gave me a sweet grin before slowly eating his lunch, which looked like it was moving on its own.

Gilbert mockingly asked Antonio, "_Bonjour, _Toni? When are you coming back to the (awesome) house with us? Or are you living with your boyfriend now?"

He answered with a shrug, which was altogether a bad idea, seeing how he was all bruised and in pain and stuff. "Whatever Lovi wants is what I'll do."

Francis smirked and made a whipping noise while pantomiming with his words.

Antonio ignored him and looked at me, curious as to what I had to say on the matter. I actually had no clue if I wanted him to stay with me or not, and saying yes would make my life more awkward than I knew how to handle. No would be the easiest answer, but would it really make either of us happy? Did it matter what made us happy? Maybe he would rather stay with his friends…

"I don't give a fuck," I settled for, making Antonio's grin fade a little.

So he wanted me to say yes…

"Awww, but Lovi! It would be fun having Toni living with us!" Feli whined.

"Fine, fine! Whatever! You can stay with us if you want to…" I told him, looking right into his eyes.

"Well then, yes, I would like to stay with you… If that's alright?"

"Yay!" my brother cheered.

Secretly, I was more than pleased, but I had to start thinking about where to put him. Well, no shit, the guest bedroom. Why hadn't I put him in there last night? I rubbed my head, stress causing me to tense up.

"Wow, you guys are awesome at playing each other!" Gilbert exclaimed.

He didn't even know the half of it.

The rest of the day was crap, trying to fake being a cheery little idiot. And watching my brother make me cry over the broken doll just killed me inside. I was glad when I was finally able to go home and collapse on the couch in pain, until Antonio said, "I have to babysit tonight…"

"Oh, fuck no! You're hurt and last time I went over there, I turned into my damn brother. There's no way in hell." I had been hoping that would be that, but he could be persistent when he wanted to be.

"But Lovi! Annabelle is the one who did this to you! She's the only one who knows how to reverse it!"

"You fucking KNEW she had done this and you didn't say anything? Damn it! Feli, get in the car!" I yelled. "We're going to babysit!"

"Okay, but can Wiggie come? I already invited him over…"

Could today possibly become any more fucked up than it already had been?

The answer was yes. Yes it fuckity, fucking could.


	10. A Play From Hell

So then, of course, we had to wait for my damn brother's bastard boyfriend to show up, which took about ten minutes, which caused Antonio to get all impatient because he "had to be there on time or he'd lose his job", which annoyed the crap out of me to the point where I told Feli to drive himself over. But the moment I told him to do that, the German walked through the front door, looking just as indifferent as he always seemed to be. So then Feli got all excited and went to kiss him. Naturally, I stopped him before he swapped saliva with the motherfucker, which earned me a pout that I ignored, demanding that everyone get in the car before my head fucking exploded.

They complied, Feli and the potato bastard sitting in the back, Antonio beside me in the front, acting all fidgety. I swear to God, it was the longest eight minutes of my life driving the three of them around. Feli wouldn't shut up, Antonio wouldn't stop twitching, and… the last one spoke for himself. I was extremely glad when I pulled into Annabelle's driveway and got out of the car, getting some fresh, not German- contaminated air.

Antonio was at the door in an instant, the rest of us following slowly after. When the door opened, for once it wasn't the little girl, but a much older looking version of her, most likely her mom or something. Her eyes widened when she saw the crew that the "babysitter" had dragged with him.

"Um, hello, Toni. Who are all these people? Wait… Ludwig? Is that you?" she asked, spotting the other blond man last.

He nodded stiffly and quickly said, "Hello Aunt Angie."

Aunt? Had he really just said AUNT? Annabelle, the little bitch, was his COUSIN? Well that explained so fucking much.

"Uh… sorry Mrs. Angie… I know you told me I could bring one person but there was a little mix-up and we're trying to fix it!" Antonio laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "This is Lovino, my boyfriend, and Feliciano, his brother and Ludwig's boyfriend…"

Mrs. "Angie" smiled at him in a motherly fashion. "It's alright, Toni, you don't have to apologize! I never thought I'd get to see my little nephew all grown up!" she said, grabbing Ludwig's cheek.

I wanted to bust out laughing at his bewildered and embarrassed expression, but somehow contained myself, settling for the evilest grin I could muster. Ludwig pulled away from her grasp, giving her a quick a hug before introducing my dumb brother to her, all quiet and serious, with a hint of blush still hanging around his face. She said hello and started talking with him easily, seeming to get along with him. While they were talking about girl stuff, Antonio took my hand and brought me inside, to Annabelle's toy-filled room.

The little girl was sitting on the floor, creepy-looking doll her in her hands. "Toni!" she cried as she spotted him. In an instant, she was clinging to his leg, glaring at me.

Immaturely, I glared right back.

"Why'd you bring that one?" she whined to Antonio, referring to me, pissing me off.

He seemed taken aback by the question, but laughed and told her, "Because he's the one I love, you silly girl!"

She made a face of disgust and said, "That's icky! Why would you be in love with a boy? You're a boy! You're supposed to go find your princess, not another prince! Yucky!"

Neither of us knew what to say to that comment. For once, we were both speechless, staring at her, me infuriated, Antonio… who knew. His facial expression was impossible to read. Then he laughed again, longer this time, sputtering, "Well, L-Lovi IS my p-princess!"

That was the last fucking straw. "I'm not a princess, damn it! Listen, you little b… witch, you better change me and my brother back right fucking now or I'll kill you!"

Of course, that was what Annabelle's mother walked into hear. My luck was just so damn amazing. I heard Feli gasp and Ludwig grunt (like the pig he fucking was) before I spun around to see an angry woman, hands on her hips, lips pursed, pissed off look on her angry face. I had never gotten nervous about anything as stupid as cussing at someone, not even a young child, before this moment.

"Excuse me?" she asked me. "Would you please repeat what you just said to my baby girl?"

Being who he was, Antonio instantly started trying to cover for me, ripping the child off his leg and coming over to me, saying, "Please, Mrs. Angie, he's always like that! His mommy never washed his mouth out with soap when he was young, so he turned out this way! He'd cuss out anybody or anyth-"

"Antonio, I don't believe I was speaking to you. I know he's your boyfriend, but he can talk for himself, though I understand why you're defending him. Now, Lovino, was it? Please tell me what you just said to my little Annabelle."

I felt my face turn red and I actually found myself trying to remember what I had said. "Uhm, something like, "Listen you witch, change me and my brother back right fucking now or I'll kill you…" I mumbled, not looking at her.

Just to ham it up a bit, Annabelle ran to her mom, sniffling, saying, "He's a meanie! That's why I put him in timeout in the first place! He said naughty things to me, mommy!"

She reached down and picked the small girl up in her arms. "I know, baby, I know. But you know what I told you about timeout. If anyone is ever mean to you, tell a grownup and they'll take care of it for you. Did you do something to this boy and his brother, Annie?"

She shook her head and said, "Uh uh! Meanie Lovi is just making stuff up!"

The mom and Feli shared a look, and then she said, "I know you're lying, dear. Now, Mommy needs to go to work now, but I want you to switch these two boys back. If they aren't back to normal by the time I get home, Lovino will go unpunished. However, if you do switch them back, Mommy will take you to Chuck E. Cheese's tomorrow, okay? And also, I'll let you send Lovino to timeout, but you have to do it like a normal person, okay? No more body switching. Does that sound good?"

Annabelle nodded, excited about the stupid Chuck E. Cheese thing. "Yeah, yeah! I wanna play games and put that meanie Lovi in timeout!"

"Good girl! Switch them back and you'll get to do both. Well, Toni, I have to go now, so take care of everything! Bye bye, Ludwig, honey, oh and you too Feliciano! And yes, even goodbye to you, Lovino! Please try not to cuss in front of five-year-old! Bye, everyone!"

Then she disappeared out the front door.

"_Ve~, _she was nice!" Feli said, going over with Annabelle to play with the freaky-looking dolls.

"Yeah, she was fucking great," I muttered sarcastically. "Now change us back, you potato bitch."

Ludwig went over to them and sat down, picking up a doll and investigating it thoroughly. After a moment, he said, "Annabelle, these dolls look a lot like us."

The little girl nodded and explained. "Yeah, I made us all! There's Toni, and Feli, and Meanie Lovi, and you, cousin Ludwig! Oh, and I made myself too! I'm pretty, huh, Feli?"

Feli nodded and smiled, playing with his own little look-alike. Then something hit me. Annabelle had never seen Feli as himself before this exact moment. How could she make a doll of him if she had never seen him before now? How had she even known I had a twin brother and what he looked like? Just as I was about to confront her, the damn potato bastard spoke up.

"Annabelle, you've never seen me before. I haven't been to Aunt Angie's since you were born. How did you make this doll look so similar to myself?"

She smiled and said, "There's a picture of you up on the wall in the hallway!"

He remained silent, but seemed a little concerned. It was my turn.

"Okay, so then how the hell did you know what Feli looked like? There's no pictures of him up in the hallway, or there better fucking not be."

Her face squidged at that. "Well, I saw you all in my dream one night too! So I knew someday I would meet you all. Then I made dollies of you guys, because I like dollies and toys are fun to play with! I like having lots and lots of toys."

Even though this answer just confused the shit out of me, I didn't get a chance to say anything else, because Antonio asked, "So, Annabelle, are you going to change them back? I think Feli and Lovi would really love to be back as themselves now!"

"Hmm, well… okay, I'll change them back so I can go to Chuck E. Cheese! Mkay, what you got to do is…" Her face lit up as she thought of an idea. "Since I found out today that two princes can be together, not just princes with princesses, did you know that? Anyway, since I found that out, you two got to… put on a play using my dress- up clothes! You get to make it up, but Feli is the prince and Meanie Lovi is the princess! Cousin Ludwig can be the pony and Toni is… the other pony!"

I stared at her in horror. "F-fuck no!" I said unintentionally, absolutely mortified. "Why the hell am I the princess?"

"Because you're pretty like a girl! And! And you two got to kiss in the end!" Annabelle declared, giggling insanely.

We're fucking BROTHERS! That's DISGUSTING!"

"Do it or I'll never change you back~" she teased. "My dress-up stuff is over there!"

Antonio and Ludwig, both stifling smiles, went over to the box and dug up clothes that resembled horses in a very unnoticeable way. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky. There was a perfect little princess dress and crown sitting right on top, practically with my name on them. Son of a bitch. I took them and, reluctantly, began putting them on over my clothes, hating my life and the lives of everyone around me who was about to witness this.

"Wait!" Annabelle sang. "You guys have to go change! You can't wear your clothes underneath or it'll look funny!"

My mouth flew open as I looked to the short dress that would just barely fit a twelve-year-old girl and back at the fucked up child in front of me. "This dress is fucking way too short to fit me!"

"If you don't do it, you'll never get to be yourself again!"

Eye twitching, hands balling into fists, I went into the bathroom before I could beat the crap out of that overly innocent face. I swallowed, looking at the dress, then started to take off my clothes, getting angrier every second. By the time I actually got the dress on, I was so freaking mad that I almost didn't care if I ever got my own body back. I felt like I couldn't breathe, but when I looked in the mirror and saw Feli's grimacing face staring at me, I decided if I didn't do this now, it would be too late. I slammed out of the bathroom and found Annabelle had put up an impressive set.

She was definitely a fucking weird five-year-old.

By the time I had come out, everyone else had already changed somehow, probably in front of each other with all their gayness, yet they didn't even look half as queer as me, since I was the one in the dress that almost didn't cover up my underwear. Antonio and Ludwig noticed me at the same time, both turning bright red, one with suppressed laughter, the other probably enjoying seeing his boyfriend's body with a dress on. I, however, was anything but amused.

"Shut the fuck up, all of you."

"_Ve~, _I think you look good, _fratello!"_

"Shut the fuck up, Feli."

He at least did what I said and Annabelle took her seat, waiting for the show to begin, calling out cheers and clapping for us all. I started in the stereotypical tower, being the damsel in distress, as was usual for the sexist stories of all the princesses. At least it covered up the dress.

When Feli came riding in on Antonio, I almost died. Just seeing him make MY BODY ride Antonio like a horse… it both turned me on and made me hate my life. Then I realized that meant I would have to ride on Ludwig's back and I felt vomit rise up in my throat.

"_Ve~, _whoa, Sprinkles! I think there's someone up in that tower!"

Antonio responded with a, "Neigh!"

"Look! The light's on! There must be someone trapped all the way up there! Let's save them, okay?"

"Neigh!"

"_Ve~, _who's trapped up in that tower?"

Apparently, that was my cue. "Uh… me. Princess… Whogivesafuck."

He looked taken aback by the name for a second, but continued on with his completely fake acting. "Oh, _ve~, _I've come to save you, my pretty princess! I am PrincePasta~!"

"Save me from fucking what? It's not like there's a dragon or anything like that. I could just easily walk down the stairs and get the hell out of here! In fact, I think I will." I walked out from behind the cardboard tower thing and went over to "Prince Pasta."

"Now what?" I asked him.

"Uh… I have saved the princess, _ve~!_ Now we get married!"

He got off of "Sprinkles" and got down on one knee. "Beautiful Princess Whogivesapottyword, will you please be my wife? I promise I'll make you lots of yummy pasta for the rest of your life and we'll have pretty babies together and-"

"Okay, okay! Yes, I'll be your fucking wife if you stop talking, damn it!"

"_Ve~, _okay! Princess, will you kiss me?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and said, "I'd rather kiss your horse, but the script says we have to, so… fine, yes. But the second we actually touch lips, I will fucking destroy you."

"Neigh~" Antonio said, responding to my first few words.

Then my own brother, my own stupid, dumbass brother pulled me in and kissed me. Apparently he wasn't very good at fake kissing, because instead of heeding my warning, his lips brushed against mine just a miniscule amount, and I responded by punching him right in the jaw, only to blink and find myself the one feeling the pain.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled, rubbing the face I had just punched, which had ended up being my own.

"Now we ride off into the sunset, _ve~_!" Feli told me and almost hopped back on Antonio, before I shoved him away and said, "Hey, Potato Bastard, come give Princess Whogivesafuck a ride!"

Then we both mounted our "horses", which seemed to be getting sick pleasure out of all this, and rode away, out of the room. Thus ended my first and last play ever. At least I wasn't in a dress anymore. The second I it was over, I got off of Antonio and ran to the bathroom, changing my clothes hurriedly and coming back out to find that everyone else had changed too.

"How was that, you fucking brat?" I snarled at Annabelle.

"It was funny! And you should stop being Meanie Lovi now, I changed you back like you wanted!"

I grumbled my response, actually really grateful but never wanting to let her know.

"That was an amazing performance, my little Lovi," Antonio said, putting his arms around me. "I especially liked the ending!"

I pushed him away and "hmphed".

He just laughed at me, like always.

The rest of the time flew by, and before we knew it, our time was up with the little witch girl. We all said goodbye, except me, and left, before anybody could put me in timeout. I drove us all back to the house and we collapsed, exhausted from taking care of a child. None of us would be good parents.

"That was so fucked up!" I groaned, stretching, feeling glad that it was my own body that I was wearing, not the slightly more effeminate body of Feli's. I felt stronger and more secure like this, and a hell of a lot less terrified.

"That was so fun~! Feli stated, cuddling up to the potato bastard, who had been completely silent this whole time.

"SÍ! It was very fun! I enjoyed being a horse more than I thought I would!" Antonio said, agreeing with my brother.

"You people have a weird definition of fun…" I growled, making Antonio laugh.

Suddenly, I heard Feli squeak and looked over to see what he was being annoying about this time. Ludwig was up on his feet, just standing there, looking blankly over at me. Suddenly, his eyes seemed to focus on Antonio and he stomped over, grabbing the Spaniard by the neck and yanking him off the couch. I watched in complete horror, unable to move from the shock.

"You were supposed to meet at ten, you no good piece of shit!" he yelled, punching him.

Antonio struggled to breathe, writhing in pain and gasping, tears running down his face. "I t-tried! You were here!" he barely breathed.

"Well now you're going to get what I was going to give you last night and more!" Ludwig muttered, his voice going low and pervy.

Then my brain decided to kick into action. "GET THE FUCK OFF OF HIM!" I stood up and punched him in the face, as hard as I could muster.

It had absolutely no effect on the rampaging German man.

He turned to look at me, disgust written all over his face. Then he pulled out a gun and before I could even register that I should move, he pulled the trigger.


	11. Aru!

I heard the ominous bang of the gun and closed my eyes, not wanting to see what happened next. I didn't have to open my eyes to know. A searing pain shot into my side, burning through the whole left side of my body. An involuntary cry of pain escaped my lips, but I miraculously stayed standing, despite the urgent wound that I could feel dripping sticky, warm blood down my body.

"LOVI!" I heard Antonio sob airily, still being choked most likely.

My eyes remained squidged tightly shut. I didn't want to fucking see. I didn't want to know, damn it! But the more blood I felt trickle down my hands, which were now at my wound, the more I instinctively wanted to check it.

I heard the weirdest fucking wail coming from where Feli had been sitting… ah, that explained it. Hesitantly, and not without pain, I opened my eyes and looked at my brother, who had his hand over his mouth and tears pouring from his eyes. Trying to avoid looking at myself at all costs, I switched my gaze to my attacker and my boyfriend who now looked more pissed off than I ever thought he could get. His eyes were narrowed and, even though he was being strangled, his fists were balled at his sides.

I felt my breath become shorter and shorter, to the point where I was gasping. "T-Toni…" I breathed, calling him by his nickname for the first time ever.

That was apparently the last straw. I collapsed onto the floor, onto my knees, only to see nothing but dark red in my vision. I looked up, trying desperately to find something else to look at than the fucking gaping hole in my body, and found my terrified _fratello _walking over to me. For a moment, I really wanted him to come to me, but when out of the corner of my eye I saw the fucker Ludwig cock his gun, I yelled at him to get the hell away from me. He did as I told him to, going back to the couch where he had witnessed this whole event.

I wondered how much longer Antonio could hold on before he was strangled to death at the hands of my own twin's boyfriend. My vision fading, I looked over just in time to see said boy pull the most fucking IMPOSSIBLE move ever, which ended up with him kicking the German man in the face full force. Ludwig dropped his hold on his neck, but kept the weapon, lucky for him. He pointed it at the Spaniard, only to find that Antonio had pulled his own gun and gotten behind him, and was also now aiming right at the potato bastard's skull, ready to blow out his brains.

"Game over, _mi amigo,_" he said in a psychotic voice that I had never heard him use before.

"TONI, DON'T!" Feli wailed, running over and pushing in front of the gun, protecting Ludwig from his eminent death. "Don't shoot Wiggie!"

This had to be the first time I'd ever seen him snarl either. "Get out of the way, Feli!"

"No! Wiggie doesn't know what he's doing, _ve~! _" Tears running down his face, he turned his back to the insane-looking Spanish man, putting his arms around the guy who had just blasted a hole in my side. "Wiggie? Are you in there?"

His response was to be smacked upside the head by the insane German man. He squeaked, but quickly threw himself against him, pressing their lips together in one last attempt to calm the insane man. I was completely surprised when the fucker blinked rapidly and dropped the weapon in his hand, which fell to the floor with a clatter, then kissed Feli back, looking more than lost. I had noticed a major difference in his eyes as he changed back to his normal self. His eyes had… cloudy, possessed, when he was attacking the three of us relentlessly. Now they were just his normal, clear light blue.

It was almost like he was being… controlled.

"You bastard!" Antonio surprised me by shouting, throwing his gun at Ludwig's head, which hit its unsuspecting mark perfectly.

He ran over to me, his green eyes full of water and violent anger, and pulled me into his arms even though I was completely bloody and nasty. "Oh, _perdóneme_, Lovi! How could I let this happen to you? My little Lovi, _mi amor, mi vida_, _mi miel! _I'm so sorry!"

His voice sounded more than tortured as he cried over me, holding me just hard enough to where I could feel his warmth and his heart beating, but not so much as to hurt my bleeding side. While speaking, he was kissing me softly, over and over; putting all is emotions into action. Feeling sleepy all of a sudden, I leaned into him, putting my arms around him and closing my eyes, thinking that there was no way that I would rather go out than in this particular man's arms.

"Call an ambulance!" I heard one of them shout, though I could barely tell who, because I was resting on a fucking cloud of contentment.

Slowly, I slipped away, lethargy pulling me in, enticing me like a damn demon, to whom I was succumbing. I let myself get pulled under, not knowing if I would ever see Antonio's smiling face again.

I heard the voices before I saw the people that they belonged to, but it was incredibly easy, even in my state, to guess who was standing right beside my bed.

"The awesome me thinks he's dead!"

"_Oui, _it would appear that he has gone down to, what you say, hell, no?"

"_Cierre para arriba! _My little Lovi is going to be okay. The doctor said he would… This is all my fault…" Antonio sounded grieved.

"Eh, the awesome me agrees with that statement. It IS all your fault."

If I hadn't been lying in a hospital bed partially unconscious and recovering from a near death experience, I would've kicked that annoying motherfucker's ass. "Shut the fuck up, you bastard…" I muttered, hoping something similar to what I wanted came out.

They all fell silent for a second before shouting in excitement at once, causing me to flinch due to an extremely sensitive headache that was beginning to form. Their words weren't even interpretable. In fact, they sounded more like noises of excitement than any language I'd ever heard.

"Welcome back, Lovi…" Antonio said when my eyes opened, while taking my hand and kissing it. "I missed you, _mi amor."_

"Ah, _c'est l'amour!" _Francis sighed, waggling his eyebrows before exiting the room to go do who-knew-what.

Gilbert gave a disgusted look at the door the Frenchman had retreated through and said, "That was just not awesome! HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE TO THE AWESOMER THAN AWESOME MR. TWEETTWEET!Wait for the awesome me!" Then he took off after his friend, whining the whole way out.

That left me alone with a very guilty-looking, innocent Antonio who continued to hold my hand, even though I was glaring at the fact that he was doing that in the first place. He didn't seem to care, just kept staring at me lovingly, kind of longingly… it was embarrassing and I tried to pull away, but he held my hand even tighter.

"Can you stop fucking looking at me like that?" I growled, flushing crimson.

With a massive grin, he told me, "No, I can't! I love you too much, Lovi, and I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you…" His smile faded. "What happened was entirely my fault… you'll never know how upset I am that you got hurt because I'm in a gang… Lovi, I love you so much more than you could ever know and I would like you to, well…_ béseme. _"

Before I could ask what the hell that meant because I didn't speak fluent Spanish, he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine, first softly, kindly, then more aggressively as he expressed his emotions through our… embrace. I guess that answered my question. Hesitantly, I started kissing him back, but for some reason, his kissing was making me uncomfortable, instead of the usual warm feeling that spread through me. It was way too…intimate.

I shoved him away from me uneasily. "What the fuck are you trying to do? Make up for something that was never your fault to begin with? Stop it, damn it! Horny bastard!"

The second I told him to stop, he did, pulling away and looking embarrassed that he had acted that way. "_Lo siento, _Lovi… I was so glad that you finally woke up, that I got a little carried away…" He laughed, rubbing the back of his head and blushing.

"Well… whatever. As long as you don't start humping me like a dog," I muttered under my breath, not completely intending for him to hear it.

Which, of course, he did.

A broad Chesire Cat grin stretched across his face and he said, "I don't think that will be a problem, _azúcar_!"

I DID however, speak enough Spanish to know he just called me sugar, so I gave him my best scowl. "Good. No humping. Where the hell is Feli at?"

"He's with Ludwig, waiting for you at home. I was the only one who stayed at the hospital the whole time."

"How the fuck is that damn potato bastard not in jail for shooting me?"

"It's been ruled an "accident" on Ludwig's part. He didn't even try to tell them it was an accident, they just wrote that it was without even asking what happened. As if they were being controlled by someone. Like they were pawns in a big game of chess, being moved in order to make all the pieces fit just right…" Antonio told me thoughtfully.

It almost seemed like he knew something that I didn't.

"Until they are finally in the right position for a checkmate," he finished.

"What-" I started to ask, but the doctor came in just then and started rambling about unimportant shit involving my bullet wound and that I'd be released just as soon as they did a few more tests to see that I was okay.

The only thing he said that caught my attention was the fact that my right side was going to be a little stiffer than usual and that bathing would be difficult unless I had someone undo my bandages and undress me before I got in, then dress and re-bandage me when I got out. My face turned redder than a tomato when he told me that and I instantly pictured Antonio undressing me instead of Feli.

"So you'll need someone to help you do that… aru," Dr. Yao told me. "Is that going to be an issue, aru?"

"Oh, _ninguÌn problema_, Doctor! There won't be an issue there!" Antonio crowed, sounding extremely pleased.

I swear to God, I wanted to punch him so fucking bad. "Y-yeah… I have a twin brother. I'll make him do it or something like that…"

The Chinese man looked pleased and said, "Oh, and I'd like to introduce you to our Nurse in Training, Ivan, aru! He'll be taking you to your last few tests before you go home."

"You will be coming with Ivan, da~?" said the Murse wearing pink scrubs.

"Uh, I guess…" I told the Russian.

"Well then you be coming this way and we go to get the tests!"

For some reason, though he looked very non-threatening, I was terrified for my life around this gray-haired, purple-eyed medical assistant. Very hesitantly, I tried to get up, only to cringe in pain and sit back down again, Antonio freaking out every time I flinched.

"You forgot the wheelchair again, aru!" Dr. Yao said chiding him teasingly by slapping him on the butt with his clipboard.

"I try not to forget again next time, da~?"

"That's right, aru."

I started to feel uncomfortable, but Ivan came back with a wheelchair and stuck me in it, leaving both my doctor and boyfriend behind. He drove me to some weird place silently, had the doctor do the tests on me, and took me back to the room, all without saying much. When we got back, the doctor was gone, but Antonio was anxiously sitting on my bed, picking at his fingernails. Ivan all but tossed the wheelchair into the room and walked away, probably searching for his older "boyfriend" so they could flirt some more instead of working.

"So can I fucking go home now?" I asked grumpily.

"_SÍ_, Dr. Yao said you could go once the tests were done, so I assume we can go now… But you can't drive and I can't drive so we may never get home."

"Damn. I'll drive anyways."

"But Lovi, they told you that you couldn't drive until you fully recovered! Plus, you can't drive in your condition…"

"Then how the fuck are we going to get home exactly?" I asked him, annoyed.

He thought about it and pulled out his cell phone, cocking his head to the side while saying, "We could call Feli!"

I snorted and crossed my arms. "I'd rather walk."

"Um, we could get… Ludwig…" he suggested edgily.

"I'd rather die."

"I figured you would say something like that. So Feli then?"

I shifted in the wheelchair uncomfortably, wanting to be able to move freely instead of trapped, unable to stand. Determined not to be stuck being rolled around, I tried to stand again, much to Antonio's distaste. He came over next to me but didn't stop me, and I flinched when the pain stabbed at me as I got up. Within seconds, his sturdy arm was there, holding me up so I could get my footing. When I was completely on my feet, I told him to let me go, which he did hesitantly, but I stayed up easily.

"Good. Now we don't have to deal with Feli's driving…" I said to myself, taking a shaky step towards the door.

Then my legs decided to wimp out and I almost fell on my face. Lucky for me, Antonio was hovering over everything I did and caught me, pulling me up again. According to him, I didn't get another chance, because he yanked me up into his arms, like a bride for the second time.

"Hey, put me down, damn it! How am I supposed to get better if you pick me up?"

He smiled and took me out of the room, still carrying me in his embarrassing way. "Lovi, the hospital isn't far from the house, so I'm going to carry you home, okay?"

"No, it's not fucking okay! I told you to put me down! What the hell is wrong with you?" I hollered at him, causing all the people in the hospital to look over as we walked by.

He looked down at me and said, "Shh, we don't want them to think I'm stealing you!" That caused him to laugh as we left the building and he started down the street.

The day was hot as hell and it didn't take long for both of us to start sweating. I felt nasty and probably looked nasty too, but Antonio, of course, looked completely sexy. Even covered from head to toe in disgusting, sticky sweat, he could manage to look hot, with his tan, shining skin. It made me want to smack him for being so lucky. He could look good in just about anything.

"Wow, Lovi, you're so light! Like a little child…" he told me, panting from his exertion.

"Sh-shut up!" I told him, taking it as an insult. It was too hot and sticky for him to be saying things like that to me. It just made me even crankier.

He gave a little laugh and suddenly changed the subject completely. "So, do I really get to help you bathe?"

I smacked him to the best of my ability in the position we were in, which made him laugh more.

"The hell is wrong with you?"

"_Nada, nada!_ I was being serious, actually!" he told me, looking not serious in the least.

I mumbled, blushing at his perverted ways, and said, "No. Feli's going to do it."

"Lucky man. But is your brother much better than your boyfriend?"

Still flushed, I looked away and explained, "Yeah, it's better. Feli's seen me naked because we both sleep with no clothes on, and when we were little and he got scared during the night, he'd come running into my bed." As an afterthought I added, "He still does that, damn it."

He made a noise of understanding. "So he gets to do it because he's related to you and has already seen your _chucherías!"_

Grumpily I mumbled, "I don't know what the hell that means, but yeah, something like that."

When we finally got to the house after what felt like an hour to me, we were drenched through with sweat and Antonio placed me gently on one of the couches before collapsing on the other, getting his nastiness all over it. Feli came running into the room as soon as he heard us, followed by a very guilty-looking German.

"Lovi~!" my brother cried, hugging me hard, pulling on my wound.

"Ow, damn! Get off!"

He stopped hugging me, said sorry, and started talking at the speed of light, explaining everything that had happened, but it was too overwhelming for me at the moment so I just blocked his words out. For once, he realized that he was being ignored, maybe due to the fact his boyfriend put a hand on his shoulder and TOLD HIM, and so he shut up and sat next to me, trying not to talk.

"_Ich bin traurig, _Lovino. I'm sorry. I have no idea what happened to me, but it doesn't matter. I still hurt you, and I'll never be able to make up for that," Ludwig told me as I glared with all the hatred in my body.

"Fuck off, you bastard! Get the hell out of my house."

He nodded, obeying my orders. Before he left, he and Feli had their apparently routine make-out session, even after what he did to me, and then he walked out the door and went back to wherever it was potato bastards came from. Antonio was still collapsed and silent, which was both weird and enjoyable at the same time. It gave me and opening to ask my _fratello _something important.

"You don't have sex with it, do you?"

He reddened at my words and shifted from foot to foot, but answered, "_Ve~, _only once…"

My jaw dropped. I hadn't been expecting a confession from him; I was just picking on him! "WHAT?" I gasped in surprise.

"Uh… d-don't be mad, _fratello!_"

"Like hell I won't be mad! When the fuck was this? Was it in this house? Don't you have self-respect, damn it?"

"It was a-a couple days ago… when you were babysitting with Toni… before we switched bodies! Whaaaa~! I'm sorry, Lovi~! I really, really love him though!" He cowered away from me, looking like he was going to sprint the second he was in danger.

I rubbed my head, the violent anger passing, giving me a headache, so I just demanded, "Go away, damn it. I don't want to see your face right now."

He complied, willing and terrified. I should have known something like this had happened. I was the older twin brother after all. Some motherfucker had taken away my brother's virginity and I hadn't even known. Maybe because we were fucking sophomores in high school and it just seemed wrong to me. Either way, I could do nothing about it.

"Now who's going to help me shower?" I sighed, forgetting who I was in the room with.

Antonio sat up straight on the couch as soon as the words came out of my mouth. "Well, if I must!"

I opened my mouth to tell him to fuck off, just like I had to my brother and his boyfriend, only to realize too late what came out was, "Fine."


	12. Caution: Xemnas! Unscramble

It took him about a minute to comprehend what I had said. Then, when he finally reacted, he was completely in disbelief. "Really?"

"Th-that's not what I meant to say, damn it!" I told him, turning red.

"But it's what you said~! _Por favor, _Lovi? It's either me or your brother!"

I shouldn't have even opened my mouth in the first place. Now I was stuck in the most awkward, fucked up situation ever, wanting to take a shower but not having anyone to help me. I couldn't even concoct an answer for him, my brain was so filled with thoughts. Completely stirred up, I decided to either try it myself or not take one at all. I wasn't THAT smelly. Okay, maybe I was, but I'd rather stink than let my boyfriend… I couldn't even finish the thought.

"Lovi? Where are you going?" Antonio asked, following me.

"I'm going to fucking do it myself," I told him, pissed and uncomfortable.

I couldn't ignore the look of disappointment that flashed across his face. "But you'll get even more hurt! Lovi, I want to help you." He spun me around gently and stared down at me so intensely, I felt my insides heat up. "Please…"

That last word came out so completely sexy, that I think ANYONE would have given in right at that moment and said yes, even a straight man. I swallowed and looked away, not liking the controlled, hypnotic feeling I was getting. It took me a second to realize that I was SHAKING, actually shaking, from his words, from his face… So apparently I wanted to say yes. Damn hormones. My face continued to blaze, but this time, I didn't run away.

"O-okay, but just this once, you damn bastard…" I gave in, shocked at even myself for barely putting up a fight.

In my defense, I wanted a fucking shower.

His former look of disappointment faded and all that was left behind was a genuine smile and an almost physical deep caring for me. Antonio pulled me into his arms and kissed me, just like he had in the hospital, in the way too intimate sort of way. I would have warned him not to hump me just like I had previously, but my mouth was a little preoccupied. After the longest session of kissing I'd ever gone through, I pulled away, gasping for air and pushing him off.

"The hell… are you… doing? You act like I just agreed to have sex with you!" I snorted. Then I thought about what I had said and realized it was probably the wrong thing. I glared, daring him to say a word about it, which he didn't, like a smart man, but he smirked.

Then he picked me up like a woman again, much to my dismay, but I was suddenly too tired to fight off his idiocy, so I just let him. When he predictably tried to take me to be stripped, like an asshole, first, I told him, "I need some damn clothes." I was sure he thought otherwise in his head, but he took me to my bedroom and let me pick out some. I prolonged the experience by pretending to be indecisive about what to wear, just so I could torture him longer. Also, I was fucking terrified of this. I was still shaking from earlier, barely perceptibly, but now it wasn't from Antonio's sexiness, which pissed me off, it was from nerves. If this went farther than it was supposed to… I would be on the same level as my _fratello_.

"Hey, Lovi?"

I turned to see what he wanted, only to find him digging through my underwear drawer. "Hey! What the fuck are you doing?"

He paused and held up a pair. "Does it matter what ones?"

"Stop going through my drawers!" I yelled. "And no. How the hell did you know that was my underwear drawer anyway?" I grabbed an outfit finally and walked painfully over to where he was investigating things that he shouldn't have been.

"Well, I just somehow knew, I guess!" I didn't trust the sweet smile he gave me while he handed me a pair of boxers with tomatoes on them.

"Yeah. Whatever. Bastard." I prepared myself to be lifted off the ground and carried again, and he, of course, did pick me up and brought me into the bathroom, making my breathing become a little jagged.

I could feel his heart pounding too, seeing how my side was right on that part of his chest. He put me down so I was standing with my back to the mirror, leaning against the counter somewhat, probably so I would have something to hold on to in case I fell or something. Surprising me somewhat in a good way, he went to turn on the water first instead of just taking off my clothes like I knew he wanted to.

"Do you like your water hot, warm, or cool, Lovi?" he asked me, feeling the water and looking back at me.

"U-uh…" I stuttered, embarrassed completely. "I d-don't care."

That was enough of an answer for him somehow and he chose one, though I had no clue which, and put the stopper in. Why had I not thought about the fact that I wasn't allowed to shower because I could get hurt? I couldn't even remember the last time I had actually taken a bath. When he turned back to me, he was redder than I had ever seen him before, just as I was, unable to look at him as he came back over to me.

I knew somehow he was going to make it seem like we were about to do it, and that bastard proved me right. It wasn't easy enough to just take off my clothes quickly and put me in the tub so I could kick him out and enjoy my peace. No, he had to come over to me and put his arms around me, kiss me down the neck multiple times, and take off my shirt at the same time. Flustered, I tried to push him away and tell him to stop, but I was suddenly struck with Noodley Arm Syndrome, and my efforts barely looked like efforts at all. In fact, they were so weak, all he had to do move my arms with ease so that my shirt would slide off of me and onto the floor.

I didn't get time to register what came off after the shirt before he started unbuttoning my pants, still kissing me on my neck, my jaw, and even on my collarbone and chest now that he had gotten my shirt off. I was mortified completely when a soft yet audible moan escaped my lips, my sudden embarrassing noise making me close my eyes, no longer brave enough to see what was happening. I heard his raspy chuckling in my ear and felt him get my pants off, then felt it when he pressed his body a miniscule amount closer to mine, so that we were touching.

Nervously, I opened my eyes again, scared about the last item of clothing on my body being taken off. He surprised me by taking off my bandages next, which I had forgotten about until that moment. Antonio took extra care around my wound, being more than careful not to hurt me until the last one was off, my injury on full display. Gently, he rubbed his thumb over it, making me flinch a little. Then he brought his hands down to the dreaded part of this whole situation, hesitantly. Somehow seeing his usually completely unwavering arms shaking made me feel better about my own trembling, helping me realize I wasn't the only one who was unsure of himself here.

I held my breath and closed my eyes when he bent down so that he could take off my underwear more easily, hating how excited my fucking body seemed to be getting about Antonio's attention. Just as he was about to pull them down, I lost all my nerve and ability to stay quiet.

"S-stop!" I ordered breathily. "Just stop, damn it!"

With a guilty look on his face, he looked up at me from where he was. "_¿Por qué_, Lovi?"

"Get out. I can do it myself." Somewhere deep inside my head, I was cussing myself out for letting my insecurity get the best of me.

His eyes opened wide in shock. "Lovi?"

I felt a lump form in my throat from the shame of the whole situation, of almost letting what happened to my brother happen to me, of letting him take advantage of me like this, of giving up right when things were going. I hated myself for all of that and more, but all I could do was tell him to leave, tears welling up in my eyes.

"GET OUT DAMN IT!"

All he could do was stand up again, kiss me one more time, and leave me, like I had demanded him to, the whole while looking like a scolded puppy. When the door shut behind him, I walked over, pain stabbing through me with every step, and locked it, breaking down into tears that I prayed he couldn't hear. I looked over to see that the tub was almost completely filled to the top, so I went over slowly and turned it off, leaving only the sound of my quiet sniffling to fill the air.

"Lovi, _mi amor, _locking the door is a bad idea. You could get hurt and I wouldn't be able to help you!" Antonio's voice reached me through the door.

"LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" I hissed, making me want to cry even more. I eased myself into the tub after I took off my underwear, slipping slightly and landing on my butt heavily with a yelp of pain.

"Lovi!" he panicked, messing with the doorknob frantically. When he found it still locked, he made a sound of frustration and asked, "Are you okay, Lovi?"

"I'm fine, you bastard!" I cried, curling up in a ball to the best of my ability. I out my head in my hands and just let it out, finally in a place where nobody could watch me do it. "Go the fuck away!"

I heard him hesitate at the door, but soon his footsteps leaving echoed on the floor and I was finally all alone. As quickly as possible, I washed my hair and skin, and found myself done not five minutes later. Now came the tricky part. Getting the fuck up. I pushed myself up with my elbows, cringing as my gunshot wound was stretched by the action, and then switched to my hands, making it pretty far up before my legs gave out and I slammed back down into the water.

"FUCK!" I wailed, the fall hurting me.

Miraculously, Antonio heard me, even though I was sure I hadn't been that loud and ran over, asking me if I was okay, which I ignored because I was in too much pain to answer. I heard the doorknob jingling in a weird way and finally apprehended what was happening, but was unable to anything about it. He picked the locked and came rushing in, concern for me written all over his face. As best as I could, I covered my crotch with my hands, and looked away from him, blushing furiously.

"The hell are you DOING?" I asked.

"I…" He froze and I knew he was looking at my naked body, which made me want to kick his ass.

"Get out!" I yelled at him again. "Stop looking at me, you bastard!"

He cleared his throat and said, "But Lovi, I heard you yell! Please, let me help you!"

When he pled like that, I turned to see his face aflame and his hand out for me to take. I cussed a few more times under my breath, but since I knew there was no other way I was going to be able to get up, I kept one hand covering my "stuff" and took his hand with the other. With a firm pull, I was jerked out of the tub and into his arms, falling front first and losing my cover to brace myself to fall against him.

We both froze in shock and looked at each other. I tried to pull away from him to get a towel or something, but his grip was too hard and actually quite a bit rougher than it usually was. One look at his face and I knew he wasn't going to let me put clothes on, no matter what I did.

"Let go of me, you damn horny bastard!" I fought, pulling even harder against him. I couldn't do this now… I was fucking hurt… it would hurt me even more! "Do you want to hurt me?"

That stopped him for a second, but he quickly thought up something. "Don't worry, _mi amante dulce. _I'll be gentle…" he cooed, stroking my wet hair.

"Like hell you will! Don't act like you've had sex before! You wouldn't know how to fucking BE gentle!" I spat, still struggling.

With a sigh, he picked me up again, for the millionth time that day, and walked out of the bathroom, towards my room. "I promise you, Lovino Vargas, it won't hurt you. Not if I'm careful!"

I couldn't do this. I couldn't. "LET ME GO, FUCKER!" I screamed at him, punching him as hard as I could even though it sent pain through my body with every hit. "FELI! HELP ME DAMN IT!"

Antonio laughed awkwardly and explained, "Well, about that… Feli left for a sleepover tonight with Gilbert and Francis, so it's just us."

At that, I just went limp. I knew when to give up, and now was the time. He'd learn soon enough that he would hurt me worse doing this and that would be the end of it. But right now, there was no convincing him against it. Even though I couldn't believe what was about to happen, I was going to let it because… yes, I wanted it. But this asshole would never know.

He took me into my room and put me on the bed softly, kissing me again and whispering things quietly to me, things that made me blush and things that turned me on. I even forgot to cover myself up and be embarrassed about it. All I could do was listen to his voice as he spoke to me and close my eyes again, waiting for it to all be over. I didn't know exactly what he was doing because I couldn't see, but I had a feeling it involved his clothes coming off. Just when I accidentally opened my eyes a tiny bit, I was being loomed over by a grinning, naked Spaniard who reached over and pulled on my hair curl forcefully, his eyes gleaming with perversion.

"CHIGII!"

Antonio had been so wrong about everything, just like I knew he would be. Every muscle in my body hurt and I was so tired, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Yet every time I closed my eyes, I had to relive what had happened the night before. So I was stuck with the sun shining right on my face and that dumbass Spaniard hugging me while he slept peacefully and quietly. How had I let this shit happen to me? The day I find out my brother lost his virginity I go and give mine away? Because of damn Antonio, I was a hypocrite and pissed off about it.

Not that I hadn't… well… enjoyed it at some points. He was actually really gentle with me, but since it was his first time too, there was nothing to go by. So I ended up with a sore ass anyway. I looked over at my sleeping boyfriend and decided not to push him off the bed, even if he deserved it. But I WAS going to fucking wake him up because I was hungry and too in pain to move. So I smacked him upside the head and, as he opened his eyes sleepily and looked at me, I blushed and I told him what I wanted.

"I'm fucking hungry. Make me breakfast, damn it!"

He smiled, showing all of his perfect teeth and rubbed my head, pissing me off. "Ah, it's good to wake up to Lovi in the morning!"

I shoved his hand away and said again, "Feli always makes me breakfast, so since he's "conveniently" not here, it's your job, you bastard. Also you lied, so you owe me."

He had started getting up, but stopped at this and rolled back over to me on the bed. "What did I lie about, my little Lovi?" he asked while flicking my hair curl repeatedly.

"Y-you said… that it wouldn't h-hurt…" I told him between flicks.

Suddenly, his mood shifted from playful to worried. "You aren't hurt too bad are you? I tried to be careful."

I turned red. "N-no…" I lied.

He stroked my hair gently, kissing my forehead. Right when that happened, two retards burst into my room.

"OHMIGAWD! Something AWESOME happened here last night!" Gilbert announced with a tweet from his bird.

"_Oui, _it would appear that these two engaged in the _activités sexuelles, non?" _Francis agreed.

In shock, I let out a girly shriek and pulled the cover up on myself to cover up my naked body. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKHOLES DOING IN MY FUCKING HOUSE?"

"Well, your awesome brother invited the awesome me and the average Francis to breakfast this morning! The awesome me never thought he's get to see so much of Toni in my life!"

I looked over to see that in covering myself with the blanket, I had completely left Antonio with nothing to cover himself up with. He was a little pink, but otherwise didn't seem to care a whole lot. He got up for real this tie and pulled some pants on, shoving them out of the room.

"Get out, _usted idiotas!"_

They listened to him, but ran out like retards yelling things like, "Hey Feli! Your brother had awesome buttsex with my awesome friend!" and "Toni and Lovi, as you say, "got it on" last night! _C'__est__très magnifique!"_

I heard Feli's exclamation of surprise and also a deeper, more masculine noise of shock. So that fucking potato bastard was here too? God, how could it get any worse?

"Ludwig? What does "buttsex" and "get it on" mean?" a little girl's voice asked, sounding all innocent.

Annabelle. I had to stop fucking asking how it could get worse.


	13. Pains In The Butt

"Oh, um…" Ludwig said, clearing his throat nervously. "I'll tell you when you're older…"

"But I wanna know NOW~!" she whined. "Please, cousin Ludwig? Pretty please?"

I heard silence, then a "hmph" from Annabelle, so I just naturally assumed he'd shaken his head. I was aggravated about not knowing what was happening, so I tried to at least sit up. It hurt a little, but it wasn't enough to stop me from doing it. I swung my legs over the side, wincing, hating Antonio with every ache that shot through me. As gently as I could manage, I put one foot down, then the other, and soon I was standing, my body full of extreme pain. I gritted my teeth against it and tried to take a step towards my closet so I could put on some damn clothes.

I didn't get that far. I fell right onto my face with a squeak, grabbing onto the blanket on the bed on accident. "Fuck…" I was stuck on the floor.

Somehow not a single one of them heard me fall and they just kept right on talking without me, pissing me off. Not even Antonio came to rescue me. Damn bastard, all he wanted from me was sex. Shakily, I pushed myself up on my hands and knees and tried to crawl the rest of the way, but barely made it two more inches. I would NOT fucking cry for help! I didn't need anybody to help me, damn it! Stubbornly, I tried again, all but yanking my naked body across the floor.

"EW! Lovi's being a bad boy again!" Annabelle shrieked, high-pitched, as she came into the room unexpectedly.

Antonio's shocked voice asked, "Annie? What are you doing? Get out of there right now!" Hurriedly, he walked into the room and grabbed her by the arm, trying to lure her out with one of her creepy dolls, the one that looked like him. "See? Your dolls are lonely out here!"

She looked at her doll, disinterested, then looked back at me as I yanked the blanket over me, hating how everyone kept barging in on me while I was… incapacitated.

"Hey, fucking potato bastard, watch your damn cousin!" I yelled out so they could hear me.

His deep voice rumbled, "Annabelle, come back out here."

With Antonio's coaxing and Ludwig's orders, she finally obeyed and looked away from me, snatching the doll away from my boyfriend like a brat and stomping out. I heard her start to tell everybody that I was being a bad boy again and that I had no clothes on, which of course started all kinds of fucking comments from Gilbert and Francis, pissing me off further. Antonio had finally realized my distress and helped me up, dancing me back over to the bed like an asshole instead of just walking like a normal person, and then grabbing some clothes for me.

"Do you think you can dress yourself?" he asked me.

I threw a pillow at his face. "Just fucking give them to me!"

He laughed a little at me and gave me the clothes, watching carefully as I slipped on a shirt and winced with the immense pain. Every time I cringed, so did he, biting his lip anxiously. Somehow, I got the rest of the clothes on myself (thank God) and he pulled me onto my feet, helping me walk out to be tortured by his idiotic friends. Even when he had placed me on the couch, he hovered over me, worried, which I hated and somehow loved at the same time. It didn't take me long to realize that there were more than four extra people here. Wait, who the fuck was this blond kid?

Sitting next to Gilbert on the other couch was a smaller boy with glasses, blue eyes, and one hair that shot out on the side of his head and curled. He seemed pretty content snuggled against that dickwad friend of Antonio's, which creeped me out. How anybody could like something as fucking annoying as that albino idiot was beyond me. He stared at me, blushing, looking like he was about to do a speech in front of a thousand people.

"Come on! Say hi to the awesome me's awesome boyfriend, Mattie!"

"The hell is he doing in the house? Damn it, Feli, how much food do you think we have?" I yelled to my brother, who was hastily making breakfast for the massive number of people he had invited over.

"_Ve~, _I went to the store before I came home~" he said ditzily.

"That's not the problem, damn it! We only have so much money! Why couldn't you just invite your asshole boyfriend?"

"Gilbert and Francis heard me talking on the phone with Wiggie about breakfast, so they asked if they could come too! Wiggie was over at his aunt's house with Annabelle and couldn't leave her, and Mattie's house was really close by here and Gilbert asked if he could come! I said yes, but that we had to go get groceries… I'm sorry, _fratello!"_

I mumbled bad things about him under my breath grouchily, but otherwise said nothing. I stared at the Mattie kid angrily. Under my fierce gaze, he cowered further into the side of his boyfriend and started to stutter, no actual words coming out of his mouth. I didn't know why I was taking my frustration out on him, maybe because he seemed just a little too fucking quiet and shy, but it was making me feel a little better.

"Hey! Stop glaring at my Mattie!" Gilbert told me, for once not saying awesome.

"I-I-it's okay…" the boy muttered. "H-h-hi… I'm Matthew. Alfred's brother…"

Alfred? That fucking annoyingly loud ADHD kid from one of Feli's classes that wouldn't shut his damn mouth? THAT Alfred? This was his brother? The difference was astonishing, almost as massive as the contrast between Gilbert and Matthew.

"No fucking way…" I mumbled, staring at him and seeing the physical resemblance clearly, but completely missing the attitude.

"I didn't know Alfred had a brother! Are you twins?" Antonio exclaimed in surprise.

"N-no… I'm a Freshman… He's a year older."

Gilbert laughed obnoxiously. "YES! The awesome me likes them young and ready to be tamed! That makes the whole experience quadruple times the awesomeness than if they were older! I especially like virgins!"

Francis shook his head. "You know nothing! They are better when they have done it before! It makes the experience more pleasurable and less…" He looked over to me pointedly."Painful. For both."

Both Matthew and I flushed scarlet.

"Not to interrupt, but there IS a five-year-old in the room," Ludwig broke in, uncovering his cousin's ears.

"What's going on?" Annabelle asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Francis, Gilbert, Antonio, and the potato bastard said in unison.

She pouted, sticking her lip out. "Fine! If you won't tell me on your own, then I'll MAKE you!" Picking up her doll of Ludwig, she said something under her breath and made its mouth move, which in turn caused the actual bastards mouth to also move.

"Ponies and unicorns are my favorite animals!" Ludwig spouted, looking as if he were being tortured.

Suddenly, it all made sense. She was the one controlling us all. Like a puppet master, she had forced Ludwig to do all those bad things to Antonio. But why? What could her motives be? Didn't she love Antonio? Had she been controlling him too from the moment I'd first met him? Was she still? Had all those words and feelings been lies created by a demonic little girl? What about Feli and Ludwig? They had had sex… was he being controlled then? And why would she hate me enough to have the potato bastard shoot me?

It just didn't seem like something any normal little girl would do.

Again, she whispered something to the doll, and not long after the phrase, "I wear feety pajamas!" came from the German's mouth.

Annabelle giggled, as well as Matthew, him having no clue what was going on except a big, huge man with a deep voice just said feety pajamas. Of course, right at that moment, Feli walked out to tell us breakfast was ready, but was distracted by the confusing statement that came out of Ludwig's mouth.

"_Ve~, _I like those! They keep your feet warm when it's cold~!" he said, smiling. "Oh! It's time for breakfast too!"

Only Gilbert and Francis left, not caring enough about the situation at hand to stay when food was awaiting their stomachs. Matthew left with them, not wanting to be left alone with a bunch of strangers. Now it was just me, Antonio, Feli, Ludwig, and that little bitch left.

"What the fuck?" I asked, staring at her in surprise.

"Oooh! I want to do you now, Lovi!" Annabelle exclaimed, picking up the doll of me and whispering to it.

Suddenly I had the urge to just blurt, "I like cupcakes", which I did unintentionally.

"What the HELL? Did you just fucking do that?"

She nodded, pleased. "Yup! It's Toni's turn!"

Antonio spouted in a really cutesy voice, "Can I have a pickle? Pretty please, with sprinkles on top?"

"Yay! This is so much fun! Now it's Feli's turn!" She picked up his doll and told it what to say.

"_Ve~_, you look like you have cooties!" he said, directing his words to me.

"I do not look like I have fucking cooties!" I said defensively, forgetting he was being controlled and acting like an immature idiot.

Annabelle laughed, thoroughly enjoying this mind torture that she was putting us through. "Now it's time for Ludwig and Lovi to have a big hug so they can be best friends forever!" She shoved our two dolls together and, like we were opposite magnetic forces, we smashed into each other forcefully, me almost getting crushed by his weight. I let out a cry as I felt major pain explode through me from the impact, feeling tears sting in the side of my eyes.

"Annabelle! Enough!" Antonio demanded, sounding seriously pissed off.

She froze in surprise and looked up at him. "I-I'm sorry…" she told him. "You can have Lovi if you want." Annabelle handed the doll of me to Antonio.

"_Gracias, _Annie. But you need to give me ALL of them. You can't control people or else you'll have to be grounded. You don't want that, do you?" he asked calmly.

Her blue eyes widened in shock and she shook her head, her blonde pigtails swinging around. "No! I don't wanna get grounded! Here, you can have them!" She practically threw them at Antonio, who caught a couple and put them up on a high shelf, then got the rest too.

"Good job, Annie," he told her, tousling her hair. "But now I have to ask you some things, okay?"

"Kay!""Have you ever… um, well, played with your dolls and made your cousin mean? Has he ever beaten me up while you made up a story for them?"

She put a finger to her chin, in thinking position. It took her about five seconds to start shaking her head. "Uh-uh! I love my dollies and I love my cousin and you Toni! I would never do that! I only play fun things like making you and Lovi get married and kiss and stuff! And Feli and Ludwig too! Then I make you have babies, but I don't have baby dollies, so I use baby Barbies! One time, Lovi had twins!"

Antonio laughed at that, telling her, "B-but men can't have babies, Annie!"

Had he really forgiven her so fucking fast for being the one who had me shot? Had him beat up?

"I know! But I don't have girl dollies because none of you are girls! So I had to play make- believe and have Lovi and Feli as the girls, because they're the girliest!" Annabelle giggled along with Antonio.

"Can we go get breakfast now, damn it? I'm fucking hungry as hell," I broke in, hating how easily he accepted her lies about not hurting him.

Couldn't he see how full of shit she was? Was he so stupid that he couldn't see that she was tricking him, playing him like the pawn he was in her eyes?

"_Ve~, _yeah, before it gets cold!"

We all agreed that it was time for breakfast, so we made our way to the kitchen, Antonio pretty much carrying me. When we got there, we saw that most of the food had already been devoured by the idiots that had come in here before us, chunks of food strewn around the formerly clean place in random blotches. They pissed me off SO damn much.

"WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE?" I shrieked, my patience low.

"Aw, but the awesome me was about to make more food for the rest of you! The especially awesome was going to help and everything!"

"GET OUT, DAMN IT!"

The three of them ran out, Gilbert and Francis sniggering, Matthew apologizing for the behavior of the two hastily while being dragged out forcefully by the arm. I felt for him. He wasn't the only one who had a completely idiotic boyfriend. Feli looked a little disappointed at the breakfast he had taken so much time to make smeared all over everything as if there had been a food fight, but he got to work quickly making some more, humming while he did.

"I'll help too, _mi amigo!_" Antonio offered energetically, picking up some vegetables and copying what Feli was doing.

Meanwhile, I sat down at the dirty table with the potato bastard and the little bitch that wouldn't stop talking. I was pretty sure she was complaining about being hungry, but I was in too much pain to care. Sitting down on a hard chair made it way fucking worse than just standing up. Hell, it was almost as bad as when I tried to walk. If it was always going to hurt this damn bad, I was never going to do it again.

It didn't take long for the two of them, singing happily and dancing around the kitchen like they were in a fucking musical, to fix what Antonio's roommates had ruined, and soon we were all stuffing our faces full of delicious mini Frittatas. When we were done devouring them, Feli got to work scrubbing the kitchen down like the good little housewife he was, his boyfriend helping him. Antonio decided to sit this part out and helped me into the living room again so that we wouldn't be in the way.

Unfortunately, that left us with Annabelle, who was looking very bored just sitting still.

"Toni, can I have my dollies back now? I promise I won't use them like I did last time! I just wanna play with them now," she asked, giving him her best puppy dog- eyed look.

To my relief, he shook his head no and gave her an order to go find something else to play with. So maybe he wasn't as oblivious as he had acted before. Maybe he didn't trust her. All I knew was, she needed to get the hell out of the room so Antonio and I could have a talk about her. Sulkily, she ran out of the room, searching for some form of entertainment. Oh God, I hoped she didn't go in Feli's room and find his yaoi stash. Or worse, go into my room and find my….. My face flamed up just thinking about how horribly embarrassing that would be.

"Eh? Lovi, what's wrong?" Antonio asked, seeing my face redden.

"Nothing, damn it! I just don't trust her!" I grouched defensively.

His gaze shifted from me to the wall, his brow furrowing deeply. "I don't know if I do anymore either… But before we can accuse her, _mi amor, _we have to be certain she was the one doing it in the first place."

"How the hell can you still doubt it? She SHOWED us what she could do with those freaking things! She controls our every action with her fucking magic!" I contradicted.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "But I just can't see a small girl like her causing so much violence. Lovi, I know that it may not seem this way to you, but Annabelle is really just a sweet, normal _niño. _Not once has she ever done anything to make me question her in the least, not until this very moment. We have to ask her where she learned how to do that and then we'll have the answer."

Furious, I ground my teeth and fisted my hands, looking away from him so I wouldn't try to beat the shit out of him. "I don't believe it. She's a damn evil, messed up bitch and I'm going to laugh when you're wrong."

"What if YOU'RE wrong though, my little Lovi?"

"I'm not going to be fucking wrong! Just because she's a little kid doesn't mean she's stupid, like you apparently think she is!"

Slowly, he reached over and stroked my cheek, sending my skin tingling and my body shivering from his touch. "Calm down, _novio._ I don't doubt her intelligence or your judgment. But I think that there must be either someone helping her or maybe even someone who is controlling her as well as us. All I'm saying is that we should ask the only one of us who would know. Her."

He leaned over and just barely skimmed his lips over mine, like a fake kiss, and then got up to go find Annabelle so that we could do something freaking retarded and ask the damn evil genius herself if she was really the one behind all this madness. Stuck on the couch, all I could do was think nonstop. It had to be her, it just had to be. Who else did I know that played with dolls and controlled them like a psycho? Nobody, that was who, damn it. All the signs pointed to her and even though she'd acted all innocent before, acting was acting, and almost anyone could lie.

Antonio came back with the weirdest expression on his face, like he was three seconds from bursting into laughter, yet also as if he were in pain. I almost asked him what the hell was up with that until I saw Annabelle by his side and what she was holding in her tiny little grubby hands like she had found treasure and refused to give it up. Oh my God.

She had gone into my room. Fuck.

"You'll never guess what Annie said to me when I asked her where she had learned her magic tricks, Lovi," Antonio said, sounding strained.

"Tell me where, you damn brat!" I demanded of Annabelle, who was standing there, holding something she REALLY should not have been touching.

She smiled her cutesy smile at me and then explained, "Well, I learned how to make dollies and make them move people around and stuff from my mommy!"


	14. Morals

**I would like to take this moment to apololgize for all my Spanish mistakes (I'm taking French. I've never spoken Spanish in my life.) I'm using stupid translater websites and thank all you awesome people for reviewing, especially those of you who inspire some of the things i write ;3 You know who you are!**

For a second, I forgot about my extremely personal item and could only stare at her, completely taken by surprise. How had I never even begun to suspect that the MOM could have been the one doing this? Maybe because she always had someone else watching her child while she was at "work", which I now questioned. Or the fact that she seemed like a really motherly mother, yelling at me for fucking cussing around her child. God, if she even gave a damn about where her own baby was, she would care that right this second she was being exposed to many, many bad things. Like what she was holding in her tiny fists. Which reminded me…

I stalked over to her, blushing and tripping over my feet a little, still hurt, and snatched up what she apparently thought was a toy. "Fucking GIVE me that!" I growled, sitting back down. "Don't play with it, damn it!"

"What is that, Lovi? What does it do?" she asked me, her eyes stuck on thing like glue.

I stuttered, my words not coming out how I intended them to. "None of your damn business!" eventually made its way out.

I could practically hear Antonio laughing at me inside my head. Embarrassed thoroughly, I shoved it in between the seat cushions and crossed my arms, glaring at Annabelle.

Of course she would whine, "Why are you hiding it? I just wanna play with it! Pleasepleaseplease!"

I lost what little patience I had. "Shut the hell up, you whiny little bitch! You aren't playing with it because it's not a fucking toy! That's all there is to say about it! Now tell me why your mom taught you that crap!"

Her lips pursed for a moment, then she gave an evil grin and said, "I won't tell you why mommy did that unless you let me play with your stuff!"

I could not believe this was happening. A small girl was trying to compromise my personal items out of me just so I could find out what was up. Ugh, but did I really have a fucking choice? This was almost a life or death situation for me, Antonio, and Ludwig, not that I really cared about him. And it wasn't… like she KNEW what she was playing with… I pulled the vibrator from the crevice and threw it at her, watching as she mauled it like an animal.

"Now spill it, you wench!"

She picked it up and started turning it around in her hands, squealing when she figured out how to actually make it vibrate. "Haha, this is fun! You said it wasn't a toy, you big, fat liar!"

I heard Antonio choke on laughter, his drawn out silence broken. "Yes, he did lie, Annabelle! That's definitely a toy, at least in my opinion! But what was little Lovi doing with THAT kind of toy, I wonder?" he questioned, turning to look at me.

"Shut the hell up, bastard," I whispered so he could hear, both my face and insides burning.

He just gave me his STUPID grin and looked back down at Annabelle, who was using the thing as… some weird boat, or at least that was what it looked like. I would never understand little kids. They were way too fucking stupid.

"I gave you the toy, now tell me what's up with your damn mother!"

"Okay~! Mommy told me never to tell, but since you let me play with your toys, I'll tell you. You're so nice, Lovi! So my mommy taught me how to do this a while ago, like a month or a year or something, and said that it was because someday later I could help her with a really fun project! I wanted to help her REAL bad, so I said yes. Then, a couple times, I saw her playing with the dollies I made of you guys, but since she's my mommy, I didn't say nothing and just let her. She looked like she was having lots of fun, but she was making Ludwig hit your doll, Toni! I didn't like it, but I just went and played with different toys, because I like sharing. That's all I really remember about it…. Now will you play with me, Toni? Please?"

He started like he had just been woken up from spacing out and blinked a couple of times, but then told her, "Sure, I'll play with you! But, uh, maybe we SHOULD use your dolls… just don't make them do things, okay?"

"Hooray! They can come and be friends with the new toy, Mrs. Buzzykins!" she cried happily, getting up and running over to the place where her dolls were. "They'll be best friends and, and, and go on adventures, like Dora and Boots do!"

Trying to stifle a grin, Antonio walked over and took the dolls down, handing her Feli, Ludwig, and herself. "Yeah… Actually, I think that "Mrs. Buzzykins" needs to take a little nap for a bit! She looks a little exhausted. Maybe we'll play with her later!"

Annabelle looked at the "toy", considering his words. "You're right… okay, well while she takes a nap, we'll play with the dollies! I'm going to go put her down to sleep! Um… she should go to sleep… HERE!" She shoved the vibrator under the blanket on the couch I was sitting on, looked me in the eyes, and with a straight face told me, "Watch her." Then she ran off to go play.

I picked it up to turn it off, so I wouldn't have to listen to it or think about it, but just then, who would have guessed, Feli and Ludwig walked in, done with their kitchen-cleaning shit. At first all they saw were Annie and Toni having a good time, laughing and playing like they were the same age. Then Feli turned his head to talk to me and spotted what I had.

His eyes opened fucking INSANELY wide and he said, "_Ve~, fratello, _I didn't know you liked to do that sort of thing!"

I dropped it like it was poisonous to the touch and started stuttering again, this time unable to even form one coherent sentence. Ludwig looked at the thing on the floor, in confusion, then shock as he realized what was in the same room as his small cousin. It was almost like he wanted to pick the damn thing up and smash it into pieces with the way he was staring at it.

"You know, damn potato bastard, even if you stare at the fucking thing it's not going to disappear," I told him in a snarky way, picking it up and turning it off.

"Hey! Be careful not to hurt Mrs. Buzzykins! It's not nice to throw her on the floor like that!" Annabelle cried, causing Ludwig's eyes to widen further.

"Mrs…. Buzzykins?" he forced out, looking from his cousin to the blanket I had stuffed the vibrator under.

"Yeah! That's the toy that Lovi let me play with so that I would tell her about why Mommy taught me how to control people and stuff!"

The German man seemed shocked to hear this. "Aunt Angie?"

The little girl nodded, hair flying everywhere. "Yeah! Mommy!"

His eyes narrowed, his brow furrowed, and he put a large hand over his mouth thoughtfully.

An awkward silence followed that, but was soon broken by Annabelle demanding more playing from Antonio, who somehow seemed tireless. He was lucky to have so much damn energy as a teenager. Most of us were grumpy, tired, and hungry all the time… like me. That idiot made me so freaking jealous sometimes.

Anther hour or so passed, and I somewhat discussed what to do about our findings with Feli, who actually seemed to see the seriousness for once, and the dickwad, who I tried my hardest to disclude from the conversation. We decided that confronting her head-on was a shitty idea, and instead we should somehow gradually figure out her motives and then somehow stop her, but keep the dolls here instead of letting Annabelle bring them back to where we could be controlled.

After we came to that conclusion, Ludwig decided that it was time to return Annabelle back to where she belonged and go to work or some other fucking place I didn't give a crap about. All I knew was that I was glad when they finally left, leaving the toys from hell on the high shelf so no small child could get to them. Exhausted suddenly from my lack of sleep, I lay down on the couch, only to be greeted by a buzzing on my side. Too lazy to move, I called for help.

"Antonio, come turn this damn thing off!" I yelled to him, even though he was right next to me.

He raised an eyebrow, his smile stretching even wider, and asked, "Oh, you mean your _vibrador_?"

"I-It's not fucking mine, damn it! I-I-I was just h-holding onto it for a friend!" I lied hastily.

"Oh, what friend?"

"You don't know him!"

"I don't, huh? Well, can I meet him some time?"

"No, you bastard, he died. He died before I could give the fucking thing back! Now everybody thinks the freaking thing is mine!"

"_Ve~, _Lovi, you never had any other friends!"

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking unhelpful idiot! I had a damn friend you didn't know about!"

"Oh! Well, I wish I could've met him~," he said stupidly, floating to his room to do something-or-other. Probably read his gay man porn.

"So why do you REALLY have one, my little Lovino?" he asked, picking it up and switching it off like I had asked him to.

Annoyed and humiliated, I pulled a pillow over my face and said, muffling my voice, "Wsmymms…."

"Pardon me?"

"It was my mom's…" I growled, taking the pillow off my face and then putting it back on.

"Your mom's…" he mumbled, dropping it on the floor quickly. "Um, I have to say, Lovi, that is a weird keepsake to have from your mother…"

Finally I just decided to own up. These fucking lies weren't worth it. "Fine, okay, damn it! It's not my dead friend's, or my dead mom's! It's MINE! There? Are you happy? Are you fucking happy? Because I'm not, you asshole!" I yelled, trying to get up and dramatically stalk off to my room, but stumbling in pain and crashing into the Spaniard in front of me.

We both ended up on the floor, his apologetic face inched in front of mine. He stroked my hair softly and said, "I'm sorry, _mi amor. _I know what you do in your free time has nothing to do with me, and, though I wonder why, I won't bug you about it anymore. Except it actually seemed like you'd… well…never… been through any type of se-"

"SHUT. THE HELL. UP. I said it was my damn v-vibrator, but I never said I USED IT. I'm fucking Catholic, damn you, I have morals! Now help me up, you bastard."

He helped me up obediently, but didn't take me to my room so I could sleep like I wanted to. He just put me back on the couch, saying, "Morals? Oh, I see… but isn't it kind of against your religion to have sex before marriage? And to be gay? Also, though it may not be against your beliefs, you cuss left and right as well."

"Take me to my room, you asshole. Just take me to my room so I can fucking SLEEP."

With a sigh, he picked me up and brought me to the room, where he lay me down on the bed gently, kissed my head, and left, letting me finally get the rest I so desperately needed and a break from the talk of the damn "toy." I didn't dream about much, just one lone sea turtle swam through the ocean of my thoughts, searching for something that it, for some reason, couldn't find.

When I woke up, I was completely soaked in sweat, like our air conditioning had broken or something like that. Exhausted and feeling extremely moody, I sat up and rubbed my eyes with one hand, and wiped my sweaty hair out of my eyes with the other. What the hell had happened before I went to sleep? It was all a blur, since I had been so freaking tired earlier. Something about Annabelle's mom being an evil bitch and finding my… Oh yeah. Now I remembered.

I stretched myself a little, feeling for any completely sore spots, only to find that I was actually feeling a little better and that maybe, possibly, I could stand up on my own and walk. I tried, and almost yelped with excitement when I was able to move around, pain still tugging at my side and ass, but not enough to stop me from moving around slowly and carefully. With my newfound ability giving me energy, I walked out to go show Antonio and Feli, only to find neither of them in the room. Huh. Freaking weird. I searched through the kitchen and then went in all the bedrooms, even the bathrooms, only to find the house completely deserted.

Fucking assholes. Leaving me without telling me where the hell they were going. Pissed off, I yanked the phone off the wall and dialed Feli's cell number, ready to yell at him unless he was doing something important. I jumped in surprise when I heard it ringing behind me. Well that fucking figured. Damn stupid, forgetful brother. Annoyed, I tried Antonio's, only to have the same thing happen, only with his being in the living room. Damn stupid, forgetful boyfriend? That seemed likely, yet way more unlikely than both of them forgetting.

Now I was really ticked. They left me, the damn bastards, all alone in this fucking house like this without warning or anything, and forced me to have to call the one person I hated the most in this world. I picked up the phone again and went through the call history, finding HIS number and calling it.

"Hello? Feliciano?" Ludwig answered.

"No, it's fucking me. Do you know where the hell Feli and Antonio are? They left without talking to me."

"Oh, Lovino. You don't know where they are?" he asked, sounding worried.

"If I FUCKING knew WHERE THEY WERE, why would I BE CALLING TO ASK YOU, YOU DAMN POTATO BASTARD?

"Feliciano was supposed to come over tonight, but he never showed up."

"Wh-what the hell? He never came? Well he's not here either!" Suddenly, I was beginning to panic. "Wh-wh-where the fuck do you think he is? I don't know where Antonio is either and they both left there damn cell phones here!"

"I don't have a good feeling…" he said suddenly, standing up the hairs on the back of my neck.

Just the way he said that… I didn't have a good feeling either. In fact, something inside me was telling me that I better fucking run, and fast, but to where? Why? What the HELL WAS GOING ON?

"What should we do? Damn it, WHAT?" I screamed in frustration at the man on the other end of the phone.

"Aunt Angie. We need to hurry." Then the line disconnected.

I stared at the phone in shock for a moment, then slammed it against the wall, back onto its cradle and took off into the night in my car, involuntary tears streaking down my face. This could not be happening. Oh damn, this COULD NOT be happening! What if we were… too late? What if she did something to them? Antonio… Feli… Just thinking of them made me push the pedal down further, harder, profanities words streaming from my mouth consistently.

I would make it on time. I would make it on time or I would fucking kill myself.

The eight minute drive seemed so much longer as I sped down the road, slamming on the brakes just in time to stop in front of the once non-threatening house. Quickly, I hopped out of the car, leaving it running, and ran, painfully, to the door, where Ludwig was already standing, pounding on the wood with his fist and yelling for her to open up. There was no sound from inside, no movement. No evidence that anybody was home at all. That made it all the more terrifying. Seemingly without thinking about it, Ludwig started slamming the door with his side, attempting to break it down.

I helped, using my own weight to shove with him, though with every slam, my heart caught in my throat from the violent aches it was causing. Finally, the door snapped and we both ran inside, searching every room in the place, only to find it completely deserted as well. Panting, we both met back up in the front room.

"They aren't here," he said, stating the obvious.

"No shit, bastard."

"Lovino, as much as it pains me to admit this, we might never see our boyfriends again alive."

Fury consuming me and emotions ruling my movements, I slapped him straight across his fat ass face. "You shut the fuck up! As long as there is a DAMN chance that we'll find them again alive, I'm not giving up, unlike you, you spineless FAG! Don't you even care about Feli? There has to be some way we can still find them, damn it! Some way!" Suddenly, defeat caught up with me, and I fell to my knees, sobbing, showing my weakness.

On the ground, my hand came across something soft on the wooden floor. I picked it up and brought it to my face, to see what it was. I was blinded by my tears temporarily, but when I wiped them away, I almost wished that I hadn't moved them at all. In my hands was part of a sewn doll.

The head of the Antonio one.


	15. Sent in Circles

I was surprised how calm I was about my finding, just standing up and showing it to Ludwig. No noise escaped from me in the least. It was like I was in shock. I probably fucking was. His eyes opened wide and he took the body part from my hand, just staring at it, deep in thought. My body was trembling, apparently reacting to what was seemingly going on. I felt sick as hell, more than nauseous, as if my innards were being burnt to a crisp. Ludwig finally looked away from the voodoo doll head, nervously glancing up at me like I was about to have an episode.

"So then, how the hell are we going to find her?" I asked, my voice calm.

He looked more than nervous now, closer to shocked and terrified at my nonchalance. "Uh, we'll find a way."

"Will you just think, damn it? She's your freaking aunt! Where would she go?"

"In case you've forgotten, I neither knew she was a part of this NOR know what her habits are. I don't know her very well at all, considering I just saw her for the first time in awhile not that long ago. I apologize, but I can do nothing in that sense to help."

Losing my patience with him yet again, I raised my arm to repeat the same slap I had given him not long ago, only to find that his eyes had changed color, within two seconds.

He was being controlled.

"Ah, Lovino! It's nice to talk to you again," the woman said through Ludwig's gruff voice and body. "How have you been?"

Suddenly face to face with the bitch who had caused everything that had happened the past few days to go down, I was completely mortified. I couldn't move a muscle in my body, not even to speak. All I could do was stare at her like a deer in headlights, the courage I had had two seconds before blown into smithereens. She laughed at me cheerfully, using the potato bastards hand to grab my chin and force me to look up into blank, soulless eyes.

"What, no answer? I didn't know you were such a baby! I guess I'll have to have my little nephew beat some courage into that frightened face of yours, hm?"

I grit my teeth and took a chance. "No, you fucking ho! Tell me where Antonio is, damn it, or I'll KILL your "little nephew"!"

She shrugged. "Do it. I couldn't care less. Though it'd be a shame to lose my number one pawn. Do you know how rare it is to find such a big, muscular man these days?"

"You fucking asshole! I swear to God, if you don't tell me where the FUCK my brother and Antonio are…"

"What will you do, Lovi? What? I already told you I wouldn't care if you killed Ludwig, though Feli would never forgive you. You can blow up my house, but I never plan on going back there anyways. Besides, there's something in that house that Antonio would absolutely crumble over if you happened to destroy it. If you're curious, it's in the basement. Apparently both you and Ludwig are so dense that you forgot to check there of all places! Come on now, go and see."

Her words… I didn't trust her words at all. She was going to trap me or something. But what if there really was something in the basement? I hadn't checked, but I didn't know if Ludwig had. Not like I could ask the bastard at the moment. Damn, this sucked so bad! Hesitantly, I made my way to the staircase that I somehow hadn't seen before and walked down, one stair at a time, always checking to see that Aunt Angie was still where she had been. When I reached the bottom, I creaked open a door and was swarmed by the smell of moldy decay and chilled by the freezing temperature. It was enough to make someone puke.

The whole place was dark as hell, not a light to be found. My eyes would never adjust to the pitch black room, so I almost went back up, but kicked something on the way there. Stupidly, I reached down to pick it up, curious as to what it was. Luckily for me, it turned out to just be a flashlight, which I flicked on and cast around the room slowly. My stomach lurched and I couldn't hold back the gag when the light shined upon a pair of dead eyes staring lifelessly in my direction. Unfamiliar, I noticed with relief, but still there.

"Wh-what the fuck?" I stuttered, looking around the room and finding nothing but dead people everywhere, occasionally in parts, but mostly still intact.

Suddenly, she was beside me.

"Aren't they beautiful? And they get me so much money, too! With all this, I'll be a millionaire in no time, possibly even a billionaire!"

"Is that what this is about? Fucking money?"

"Silly child, why do you think I had Ludwig beat up Antonio for his babysitting money? OF COURSE, it's about money! Everything is! Money makes the world go 'round, remember? Ah, it always feels so fantastic adding to my collection, especially rare pieces like you!" Psychotic laughter rang off the walls, piercing my eardrums.

She was going to… kill me? So it HAD been a farce just to trap me in, just like I had wondered. Now I was going to pay the ultimate price for being so fucking stupid. But what about a group of corpses was Antonio going to crumble over? Was she referring to MY corpse? Or had I missed something? Just to be sure, I looked around one more time, forcing myself through the cadavers, checking very carefully. Then a pair of shiny, light blue eyes blinked, shiny with newly shed tears.

Oh my fucking dear God. Annabelle.

"You damn BITCH! She's your FUCKING FIVE -YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER! I can't believe you'd do this to her! I may not give a shit about children in the least, but I would never be fucked up enough to tie my own child down and use her as bait! You let her go right now and I'll let you have me. Do anything you want, you fucker, but let Annabelle go!" I let her see how desperate I felt with the tone of my voice. I even considered begging her. I would have done anything.

She considered my offer, rubbing her chin and staring at me. "Alright, you make a good bargain. I'll let my baby girl go in exchange for your body." Licking her lips like a pedophile, she eyed me up and down. "I'll get a lot of money for you, I can tell already!" Then she went and untied the terrified child, who ran out of the room as fast as she could, crying for her daddy.

Not that I had actually expected her to help me or anything, but the second Annabelle left me alone with her mother, I felt betrayed and completely alone.

"Please, before I die, just promise me one fucking thing."

"We'll see. What is it?"

"Don't kill Feli and Antonio."

Her smile was broad and white, her teeth seemingly pointed, or at least with the way the shadows hid in their depths they appeared to be. "Oh, Lovino. I never planned on killing either of those two! Not SOON anyways. No, THEY are going to be used in… OTHER ways! Feli seems like such a good boy that I would never do anything to harm him, so I think I'll use him as a little house-cleaning slave and whatnot! But Antonio…" A noise like a sexual growl came from her. "I'll definitely be using him as a DIFFERENT SORT of slave!"

The risings of jealously started to spread in me, my heart leaping furiously at the thought of some old bitchy cougar having sex with MY ANTONIO. Suddenly, I felt the need to fight back again. She was NOT going to get away with this shit. Instinct kicked in and adrenaline coursed, causing me to throw a punch to Ludwig's head that could have caused him brain damage. In this case though, it only woke him up as his normal self, cutting off whatever damn spell had taken him over.

"We need someone who can do magic," was the first thing he spouted.

"What in hell are you babbling about, fucking potato bastard?" I demanded.

His face squidged. "When I was taken over, part of me could still see what was happening, so I got a glimpse of where she is, but we need someone who can do magic to get there. But it's high level stuff that Annabelle is still too young to do."

"DAMN IT! I don't know anyone who…" Randomly, a scene from school played through my head of one day when I was talking to Arthur. Somehow magic had been brought into the conversation and… he had said something… "Hold on! I do! Arthur Kirkland from school can do magic!"

We stared at each other for a second, both surprised that I actually knew someone who could help us in a situation as fucked up as this one. I mean, how often did you need to know some magic guy because your boyfriend babysat a girl whose mom was a fucking fruit loop who was keeping your twin and that same boyfriend captive in a world that didn't exist to normal people? Never, that was when. Except for apparently this moment.

"Do you have any clue where he lives?" Ludwig asked, holding his head where I had punched him.

"Son of a bitch. No… But we sometimes got paired up for projects in Parenting class so I think…" I took out my cell phone and went through the phonebook. "I have his number!" I quickly pressed the button to call him, growing more and more pissed with every ring.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice asked, yawning.

"It's Lovino. You know, the guy you do projects with that involve the COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF OUR BABY? Damn I didn't even…! Anyway, I need to know where you live because I need your help. It's kind of an emergency, so if you don't help I'm going to tell the cops you did something illegal. Give me the damn address."

"What for? Don't you realize what time it is?"

"No, I fucking don't give a SHIT because an evil, crazy magic-wielding psycho bitch has my brother and boy- best friend Antonio captive! Now help me, god damn it!"

There was silence at the other end for a moment, but then he finally told me where he lived and that he would go get his "magic stuff" ready. I didn't even want to know what the hell that meant, nor did I care as long as it would allow me to save the two people I cared… loved the most on this planet. In the universe. The second I put my phone back in my pocket, I took off running, not caring whether the German followed me or not. I was surprised at how well I could sprint after being shot, making it to the somehow-still-there car and leaping in, waiting two more seconds for Ludwig to catch up.

When he was in, I slammed the pedal down, speeding down the road to Arthur's place, which was a ten minute drive if you actually followed the speed limit. I turned into the driveway and took out the keys, shoving them in my pockets and then frantically began beating on the front door.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" I heard him yell. I barely caught the "bloody git" he whispered, but I did and made sure to look extra annoyed when he finally pulled the door open. "Come in."

We both made our way into his house, going to the room which he ordered us to go to, demanding that we not touch anything else or go near the room at the end of the hall. Knowing this asshole, it was probably the bathroom. When we all had piled into his bedroom around some weird-looking magic-y stuff, he shut the door and asked us to explain everything.

"Okay," he said, "So what is happening that is so urgent you had to wake me up at midnight?"

"I already explained it, damn it! I need you to get us to some fucked up magic realm or whatever where the potato bastard's crazy aunt has my brother and Antonio captive!" I yelled at him, which he obviously didn't appreciate.

With a sigh, he put a hand on his forehead, like he had a headache and explained, "Look, there's more than ONE realm where she could be at. I have no idea which bloody one it is that you are referring to! I may be able to do magic, but I can't read minds!"

Ludwig spoke up, like I was hoping he would. "It looked like… in honesty, it looked like the house she already lives in at the moment."

Realization lit up in Arthur's green eyes. "Oh, like a shadow realm of our neighborhood? Hmm, it's actually difficult to get people to and from shadow realms, but I think I can manage. Okay, what I need you both to do is just drink this."

He handed us both weird vile things full of glowing green liquid that looked like it was…bubbling.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked him, putting my ear to it and hearing it sizzle.

"I'm positive. It won't hurt you."

I gave him a look of pure hatred and disgust, but I drank it anyways, feeling nervous as it burned my esophagus going down. I could feel it drop all the way to my stomach, where it sat and heated up my insides. It wasn't uncomfortable, more like unnerving as hell. Ludwig had done the same and now had a look of confusion on his face. Meanwhile, Arthur had been chanting some weird satanic chant over and over. After five minutes, I felt like we were getting nowhere with this and was about to yell at him, when suddenly, he was gone.

It was just Ludwig and I left alone in his room. For less than a second, I thought he'd accidentally sent himself instead, then realized how damn stupid that would have been. So this was the shadow world? It looked a hell of a lot like home. I stood up and felt lighter than usual, pausing only for a second when I began to run faster than I thought I could. Outside, my car had disappeared. What, no cars in this damned place? Fucking rip off. I guess it was a good thing we could run so fast then.

We tore down the eerily empty street toward the house where we had just come from, making me feel like we were being sent in circles, which pissed me off majorly. It felt like forever before we burst into the place, both panting and covered in weird, blackish sweat. Instantly, we knew where to go. I mean, where else would an insane psycho keep captives? In the basement, no freaking duh. That was where all the dead, rotting bodies were, and keeping captives there would scare the shit out of them, causing less resistance.

As quietly as possible, we walked down the stairs, cringing every time a stair squeaked. When we saw that it was dark down here in this world too, I kicked around for the flashlight and turned it on, seeing exactly the same scene I had back home, only this time, the terrified eyes of my tied up twin met me instead of Annabelle's. Before I could do anything, the potato bastard ran over to untie him, saying something in his low, rumbling voice that I couldn't catch. When all the knots were undone and the gag was taken out, he fell into his boyfriend's arms, sobbing weird words really loudly.

Now that he was saved, I had to find Antonio. Ludwig could take care of Feli, I could at least give him that. Feeling insensitive, I walked over to him and made him look at me, grossed out by the snot running down from his nose.

"Where's Antonio?" I asked, my voice as cold as ice.

He sniffled a few times and wiped his nose and face with his sleeve before saying, "Sh-she took him upstairs!" Then he burst into tears again and clung to the bastard like a koala bear.

I went back up the creaky old stairs, starting to feel like she had LET us take Feli back without a fight. There was a purpose behind it, I just knew it. As I started towards what I thought was her bedroom, which was where I was CERTAIN she had taken my boyfriend, I almost slipped on something that was just lying on the floor. I bent down and picked it up, not that surprised to find that in my hand was the rest of the Antonio doll's body. In exactly the same place his head had been in the real world.

More determined than ever now, I stormed through the house, finding the door I was sure was hers and slamming it open, only to find a horrifying scene playing out before my eyes. She was all over him, had him almost all the way down to being completely naked, the only thing still on him his boxers. She was forcing him to take her clothes off, his face twisted in hatred and disgust at every movement she made him make. The worst part though were the bruises that were all over him, staining his beautiful skin purple and black from when he had disobeyed her…

They both looked over when I burst into the room, Antonio with absolute joy and excitement, the whorebitchslut with murderous intent. I didn't give a SHIT. I was going to kick her fucking sorry ass.

"You couldn't even let me have my fun once, Lovi, before you came in and ruined it all? And Toni had just started giving into me too! Now I have to break him in all over again!"

Tears streaked down Antonio's face as he looked at me, still pinned down by the fat bitch. "Lovi… my little Lovi is still alive…" he whimpered softly.

I narrowed my eyes and walked slowly into the room, as slowly as I possibly could, slower… slower… until I was face to face with the evil woman who had caused everyone so much grief the past week. She gave me a cocky grin and asked, "What are you going to do? Huh? There's nothing you CAN do."

"Shut the fuck up, you damn bitch!" I screamed, grabbing the first possible weapon I could find in the room.

A pair of scissors. Without thinking about possibilities or consequences, I drove them right into the jugular on her neck, giving it all the effort I could.


	16. All For Me

**Okay, I'm sorry to say that this is most likely the last chapter, unless I get bored and make more, which is definitely possible! But I've finished the plot so the rest... just fun random chapters! Sorry about my Spanish yet again, I know I fail and that's okay :3 Please enjoy this "last" chapter and (nice) reviews are always appreciated! ;)**

Her eyes opened wide, shocked that I had actually managed to hurt her. One hand reached up, shaking, to touch her neck, which was now seeping blood. It ran down her body, staining the once white bed sheets crimson underneath her. I yanked the scissors out of her, fully intending on doing the same thing again, rage controlling me, but was stopped short when a wide smile grew across her face and she pulled her hand back, the wound that I had inflicted completely healed, without so much as a scar.

"Lovi, Lovi, Lovi. You don't know the first thing about fighting with magic, do you? I told you already, honey. There's nothing you can do to stop me," she said, face full of narcissistic joy.

"Yeah, and I already told you to shut the fuck up!" I came at her with my weapon again, this time stabbing her repeatedly in several different vital places.

She just threw her head back and laughed while I watched in horror as the holes I had gouged in her closed. Son of a bitch. "See, Lovi? I just heal right back up again. But you," Angie told me, pausing to get closer to me, "won't be as fortunate."

With that, she pulled out the doll of me from under one of her pillows, a demonic light I'd never seen before in my life lighting up her eyes. I could do nothing but watch helplessly as she whispered to the doll, putting it under her spell, making it into me. Antonio's eyes widened with realization of what she was going to do and he tried to get up, tried to protect me, but she noticed and suddenly he was trapped against the bed, writhing in pain and gasping for air.

"You damn bitch!" All I could do now was throw insults at her, yell and cuss her out until the end. "What the fuck are you doing to him, damn it?"

"I'd be less worried about Toni, if I was you. I'd never kill HIM." Then she pulled hard on one of the dolls arms, causing it to tear right off.

At first I didn't feel anything and started to wonder if she had just ripped my arm fucking clean off, but then I felt the searing pain ripple through my whole side and I cried out, the intense pain bringing tears to my eyes. "F-f…" I couldn't even get the word out. She'd snapped my bone in half.

"LOVI!" Antonio cried, his own torture having stopped as soon as she'd started to attack me.

"One down, four appendages to go! I think I'll save your neck for last, Lovi! That way you can stay alive to see your precious Toni until the very last moment." She turned the doll to the other side, playing with the arm a little before ripping it off, slowly and brutally.

The pain was more immediate this time and almost double as much as the last arm. Not only had she broken this one in half, but she'd ripped it slowly out of its socket first. I couldn't help but yell in agony and sob as my other arm fell limply to my side. "F-FUCKING BITCH!"

I closed my eyes, already knowing what was going to happen next. She would go for my legs until I was nothing but a useless body, and then she'd snap my neck and I'd be dead. That would be the end of it. Maybe it was better if I just fucking died to get rid of the immense pain I was in. Mentally preparing myself, I wasn't expecting what I heard next. The sheets rustled and a shriek from Angie made me open my eyes to find Antonio beating the shit out of the ho, punching her face with one hand, the other for some reason in his underwear. Tears were falling from his eyes and he was yelling, though his words were unintelligible to me. I couldn't tell if he was speaking Spanish or if I was too far in shock and pain, but all I could notice was the horrified look on his face.

Especially when he pulled out the gun. And put it to her head. And pulled the trigger.

We both watched her angered, beaten in face drain of life as she drenched Antonio in her blood and turned limp, falling helplessly into his arms. He stared at her forever after that, just looking in complete shock at what he had done. All for me. When he finally seemed to wake up from his permanent dream, he looked over at me, his face coated in scarlet liquid and dropped her body onto the ground heavily.

"Lovi," he murmured.

I never knew one word could hold so much meaning, coming from him.

Unthinkingly, he wrapped his arms around my body and squeezed me tightly, forgetting about my freshly broken arms and old, but still painful, gunshot wound. I bit my lip, trying my hardest not to scream so that he wouldn't let go of me. I didn't ever want him to let go of me, damn it. Especially if I was going to pass out like I thought.

"She told me you were dead, that she'd killed you already and that I had nothing left to live for. I feel dirty… the things she did to me and made me do… Oh, Lovi, I love you so much! I'm so very sorry for everything, _mi amor,_ I'll never leave you alone again!" he cried into my shirt, kissing me repeatedly.

I would have said something, but if I opened my mouth, I'd shriek in agony. So I just pressed myself as hard against him as I could, unable to move my arms to hug him back or cuss him out for being such a huge bastard. When I didn't respond, he seemed to remember that I was in major pain and let go, causing me to sway and almost collapse onto my ass. Right before I hit the ground, he caught me, which sent pain shooting through me. There wasn't a place that didn't fucking hurt right now.

"Lovi, I'm sorry, this is going to hurt," Antonio said and pulled me up into his arms, the usual bridal way.

It hurt like HELL. This time I wasn't able to keep in my whimper of pain as it escaped from my tightly closed lips. Worried, he carried me through the house and went to the basement, luvkily already knowing where Feli was so that I didn't have to say anything.

"Lovi!" Feli squeaked like a girl, running over to me and casually grabbing my hand.

In his defense, he didn't know it was hurt. I yelped from the pain of his moving my arm, and naturally, he dropped my hand like it was burning hot. Which didn't help the pain in the least. Feli's eyes opened as wide as softballs.

"What happened to Lovi's arms, Toni? Is he okay? Are you okay?"

Suddenly furious at his idiocy, I barely breathed, "Do we fucking LOOK okay, you damn idiot?"

He didn't get a chance to answer, because Ludwig (thank God) interrupted whatever stupid thing he was about to reply with. "We need to get back to Arthur's house and get home."

"Arthur's house?" Antonio asked, sounding confused.

The bastard nodded. "Yeah, he's the one who got us here in the first place."

"Lead the way."

Taking advantage of my unintended vow of silence, Ludwig, the sneaky asshole, picked up my brother the same way Antonio was holding me and walked up the stairs and out of the house, running as fast as he could possible go. I still thought it was fucked up that they had no cars here. I mean, what the hell? Were they trying to save the shadow ozone layer or something? Either way, it didn't take us long to get back to where we had come from, again going in circles, which pissed me off highly. We entered the house, all dead silent for no particular reason at all. When we got to Arthur's room, we found him sitting on the floor, looking bored.

When he heard us enter, he turned and said, "Finally! What took you so long?"

I wanted to smack him upside his fucking head.

Antonio laughed and explained, "We had a few… issues to take care of."

Taking in his blood-coated look and my dangling arms, his eyes widened and he said, "Apparently… Anywho, I think it's about bloody time we got back home. I have something to do in less than ten minutes and I want you all out of my house."

Such a way with words, this damn limey. He cracked his knuckles and gave us all the same drink we had had before, only this time, it was neon pink. And smoking. Trying not to be concerned, I watched Antonio drink it after smelling it. He then helped me with my own dose, giving it to me just like I was an infant drinking from a bottle. I wanted to punch that fucking smirk off his face. More satanic chanting from Arthur gave us whatever the hell it was we needed to get home and suddenly, we were opening our eyes to the real world.

"_Ve~_, we're home!" Feli shouted, dancing around gaily.

"Yes, now hurry up and get the bloody hell out! That took longer than I thought it would so please just…"

He was interrupted by the door slamming open and a loud, "HI, ARTHUR!"

It was… Alfred? So that was why he wanted us out so bad. He didn't want us to know that Alfred was his boyfriend. Arthur facepalmed and continued to tell us to leave, which we were already doing.

"Whoa, what happened to these people?" Alfred gasped, looking at us in shock. "And why are they here? I thought we were going on a date!"

I watched smugly as Arthur turned beet red and glared at his obnoxious partner. "Shut the bloody hell up, Alfred! They were just leaving!"

He blinked a couple times and then waved at us, saying, "Goodbye!"

God, he was so fucking annoying.

We made our way out to my car, which, thankfully, was sitting in the driveway untouched by anything. Ludwig drove us all home, since my arms were broken and the other two sucked at driving. I never thought I'd feel so glad to see our house when it came into view and couldn't wait to get some damn sleep, but that German asshole just drove right by it.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I yelled to him.

"We're going to the hospital."

Oh. I guess that made sense.

The next few weeks of my life I wasted in that fucked up deathtrap called the hospital. They were constantly tugging at my broken arms and poking at my healing gunshot wound. When they asked how all of it had happened, I lied and said that I'd fallen off the roof. I could tell they didn't believe me, but they could just fuck off and leave me alone, because I'd had one hell of a time that they would never understand, plus I didn't want Antonio to get arrested for killing someone. He stayed with me the whole time, keeping with his promise to never leave me alone again. He didn't even let me go to the damn bathroom by myself. When they took me to surgery, he was right outside the door, waiting for me to come back out.

He was there the whole time.

When they finally let me out of that damn place, I was relieved, but home was just as annoying. I was stuck missing school for a long time and it was amazing that I even passed to go on to the next grade. After a year, we all were physically healed, but emotionally, we still needed some work. The police never investigated the murder of Angie or even talked about her disappearance. After all, nobody had turned her in as missing or knew she was gone. It turned out she had murdered her husband and was planning to do the same to Annabelle before I showed up and saved her ass.

When Ludwig went to go get Annabelle a few days later, he found her cowering under her bed like any normal little kid would, hungry and terrified. It took Antonio's coaxing and Feli's pasta to get her out, but after that, she was fine, running around and just being herself. She went to go live with Ludwig, who was more than happy that he would no longer be living alone. I was just happy she wasn't living with us, the annoying little brat.

Of course, I still had to live with Feli and Antonio, and that took just about as much patience as living with a five-year-old would. Especially when Antonio wanted something from me. Like today.

"Lovi~, it'll be fun!" he tried to convince me, pulling me closer.

My face was burning from his idiocy, hating that he was putting me in this damn position. "Damn it, I said no! I-I already told you, we don't have fucking time…"

He pouted at me and whispered, "But it's summer vacation, my little Lovi! We have all the time we want! Come on, just once, please?"

Stupid asshole, trying to use his seductive voice on me. "I fucking said no! I have to go work!"

"But Feli thinks we should too!" he protested, again pulling me closer to him.

We were lying on my bed, and I was turned away from him, so every time he pulled me closer, he made it harder and harder to breathe. I tried to push him away, uncomfortable, but he just clung to me more. Freaking idiot.

"Why do you want to so damn bad anyways…" I mumbled.

"Because it's a sensual experience that we can share together, just you and me, _mi amor_, with nothing to worry about but how good it feels!"

I picked up a pillow and turned, slamming it in his face. "Stop making going to Hawaii sound perverted, you damn bastard! Besides, we won't be alone! You said that Feli and the potato bastard are coming too."

He laughed and threw the pillow off the bed, reaching around to stroke my face and told me, "Just because they come doesn't mean we have to see them at all. Why do you not want to go so much, Lovi? I already got the tickets."

I just stared at him. And stared. And stared some more. "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! YOU GOT THE DAMN TICKETS AND DIDN'T EVEN ASK IF WE WANTED TO GO?"

He shrugged, ignoring my screaming and explained, "Well, I just thought you wouldn't have a problem with going on vacation with me. You've been working so hard, I just wanted to give you a break. You know, relax your muscles! Plus, Feli and Ludwig both said yes when I asked THEM. But, if you really don't want to, I guess I'll just let your brother and his boyfriend go all alone, without any supervision from you at all, free to do whatever they please!"

"Okay, damn it, I get it! I'll fucking go," I said, just to please him. Besides, I would never tell him the truth about why I didn't want to go. It was way too damn embarrassing.

A breathtaking smile lit up his face and he kissed me deeply on the mouth enthusiasm causing every part of him to shake. "_Gracias, _Lovi," he breathed into my neck. "You won't be disappointed!"

I highly doubted that, but shoved him off because I had to pee. "When is this trip anyway?" I asked, walking towards the door.

"Um, well, tomorrow!"

I froze, hand on the knob. "WHAT?"

"I had to get the tickets on short notice and it didn't exactly go well… I promise I'll do all the packing! Oh, but first I need to tell Feli we're going."

He opened the door all the way for me and ushered me out, kissing me again as he passed by. I really was going to kick his ass. But I would wait until tonight, when Feli was asleep. Angered, I went to the bathroom and came back out, storming to my room. If I as being dragged on this trip, I was definitely going to make that damn tomato bastard sorry he even invited me to come. When I got back to my room, I found Antonio doing exactly what he said he would, packing my suitcase first. Of course that meant he was going through my stuff, which made me self-conscious every second. When he went towards my closet, I felt my face heat up.

"Wh-what the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked, stepping in front of him.

He cocked his head to the side and smiled, saying, "I'm getting your clothes for the trip, Lovi!"

"D-d-don't bring the one's from the closet, you asshole!"

I watched nervously as one of his eyebrows twitched up and he got a curious look on his face. "What are you hiding in there?" he asked in a sing-song voice.

"N-n-n-nothing, damn it!" Yeah, that was convincing.

With a smile that usually meant he was going to do something that made me want to kill him, he put his arms around me while I flailed at him, and spun me around like we were dancing, only to have him stop when we had switched places, and put me down on the ground. Then, before I could register what had just happened, he opened the closet and began digging through it.

Just as I was about to scream at him for that, he found what I had prayed he wouldn't.

With a devilish grin, he turned, holding something in each hand. "Were we planning on taking these on our trip, Lovino?"

In one hand was the vibrator from a year ago, which I had definitely NOT planned on taking and actually was going to destroy ASAP. In his other was… was…

"I thought you didn't like yaoi, my _pervertido! _Didn't you yell at your brother just the other day for having some?"

"Damn it, Antonio! They aren't mine! Those are…. The ones I've taken from Feli!" Boy did I suck at lying. I snatched the book from him, trying to be careful not to rip it. "Stop fucking going through my stuff!"

He laughed at me and ruffled my hair, and walked away from the closet and back to his suitcase packing. I suddenly remembered something.

"You didn't put the…" I said, turning to look at him tossing it into my bag.

With a wink he said, "sé!"

Someday, I really WAS going to fucking STRANGLE HIM.


	17. Mixing It Up

**Well alright! This is it, the very last chapter! Sad, but true :( Besides, this is seriously pointless... Anyways, i apologize for any and all mistakes of Spanish! Thanks for reading 3**

That night, after I had made sure Feli was sleeping twice, I walked into my bedroom, blushing my stupid face off. For some damn reason, Antonio had ended up sleeping with me every night since he moved in, like we were married or something. I doubted I would ever get used to walking into my own room and finding someone already laying there in my bed. Usually by now he was sleeping, smiling about some weird ass dream he was having, most likely something gay having to do with me, but tonight he was on his stomach, his head turned towards the door, green eyes vivid and very awake. They watched my every movement as I walked around to the other side of the bed and self-consciously started to take off my clothes so that I could sleep.

"Can you stop fucking staring at me?" I grumbled, turning to glare after I had managed to remove my shirt.

Thanks to this bastard, instead of sleeping naked like I had my whole entire life, for the past year I'd been forced to wear boxers to bed, not trusting him enough for me to follow my nature. I despised him for it, and the simple fact that I couldn't be comfortable in my own bed made me cranky as hell during the night. Because of that, there hadn't been anything in the "bed department" since that one night a long time ago, which was fine with me. However, Antonio was just a damn horny pervert. So I slept with clothes, even though it was annoying.

He said nothing, just smiled at me and pulled the covers over his head.

I hurriedly took the rest of my things off and hopped into bed, not enjoying the shy feelings I was having about him in the least. Now that the lights were out, it was time to get pissed at him. "Hey, you damn bastard, you couldn't have just fucking asked if I wanted to go to Hawaii? Seems like a waste of money, if I hadn't said I would…"

"Ah, but Lovi! I didn't think you wouldn't want to go to Hawaii with me, so I didn't ask… After all, the only reason I got these tickets was for our almost-one-year anniversary! Because I love you and want to spend all my time with you!" he told me cheerfully, squirming closer to me and putting his arms around my half-naked body.

I shivered lightly at the feel of his warm, smooth, bare skin against my own, hoping he didn't feel my trembling. Trying to be pissed at him, I pushed on his chest and squiggled as best as I could out of his comfortable embrace, attempting to not be distracted when he chuckled and kissed my neck. "Get the hell off of me, damn it, I'm pissed off at you!" I yelled, still struggling against him. "First you drag me on an involuntary vacation, then you go through my fucking stuff, and now you're trying to assault me? You're a giant asshole, damn it! ASSHOLE!"

His face was pressed against my chest and I felt it when he frowned and said, his words a little muffled, "You agreed to go eventually, so it's not completely involuntary, I was only trying to pack your suitcase like I promised, _mi amor, _and I'm not assaulting you." He came up to where we were face to face, his breath warm and sweet against me. "I love you, _mi pequeño tomate_! I'm showing you that I love you… but if it makes you unhappy, then I'll stop."

Suddenly, he pulled away from me and slid to the other end of the bed, looking a little sad but agreeable. He knew I was moody as hell and would never argue with anything involving love with me. If I didn't want him to touch me, he would let me go and that would be the end of that. I knew I hurt him sometimes, but damn it, I wasn't just some toy and I didn't want to be treated like one! Yet tonight, though I was supposed to be beating the shit out of him because he's was a stupid bastard, I actually wanted him to hold me… even if I would never admit that to him. Directly, anyways.

"I-I'm not unhappy…" I tried, hoping to feel him wrap himself around me like he always did again.

He didn't.

"_Es aceptable, _my Lovi! We need to rest for tomorrow anyway." He turned over his shoulder to look at me and gave me a smile, saying, "Good night, Lovino! _Sueños dulces_…" Then he turned his back to me, sighing sleepily.

"I said I'm not fucking unhappy, damn it!" I growled, offended that he hadn't understood what I meant by that.

Most likely because of the anger in my tone, he looked back over at me, eyes widened slightly. Did he get what I fucking meant yet? He seemed confused, which pissed me off so much, I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled myself over to him and, flushed and not meeting his eyes, put my arms around HIM for a change. Stupid dense bastard, not getting what I meant… When he finally understood, his smile grew and he flipped all the way around, wrapping me completely in his arms, kissing my lips with a deep, heart-filled satisfaction.

So much for kicking his ass…

The next morning, we had to wake up really early so that we could be at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Both Antonio and Feli were smiling and happy, both being major morning people. I fucking hated morning people so damn much. NOBODY should be that cheerful at 4:00 a.m. And I had two of them to deal with. I had to fight my heavy eyelids like a strong warrior just to stay awake and have Antonio pick me up so that I would get out of bed. By the time I made it to the table for breakfast, I was already falling back asleep. It was only when Antonio threatened to shower me again that my eyes popped open and I got ready the rest of the way by myself, knowing that he really wasn't kidding.

Grouchy and irritable, I was a little glad when we finally left instead of hanging around the house forever, just waiting. I let Ludwig drive since I didn't want to fall asleep driving and kill us all, though I wouldn't mind the potato bastard and Feli's deaths. The only reason I wanted my _fratello _to die was that he WOULDN'T SHUT HIS FUCKING HOLE and I was trying to sleep, damn it. I'd never been on a plane before, so I had no clue what it felt like or if I would be able to get rest on one. From what I'd heard, most people thought planes were shitty and expensive, so I assumed sleep would be a difficult task.

The airport was about an hour away, and I was more than glad when we finally got there and Feli stopped talking about pointless things, like wanting to do the hula, puppies, and guava juice, or something like that. Only Antonio and Ludwig actually seemed to know what to do in the chaotic building, so Feli and I followed behind them like they had candy stuck to their asses and looked around, watching all the different people go by, all speaking in different dialects and wearing weird clothes. Feli spotted an Italian restaurant in the food court and almost had a heart attack over the fact that it was named "_Feliciano's", _which was embarrassing as hell, especially when all those weirdly dressed foreigners turned to see what was happening. One of the guys, an old man with long, gray hair with a matching beard and homeless people clothes, gave me a smile and a wink, blowing kisses at me, and as much as I tried to pretend it was my brother he was hitting on, I couldn't convince my brain that that was true. Thoroughly creeped out, I shrunk a little closer to Antonio and turned my back on him, trying to shake the whole situation out of my mind.

We were led to the closest flat screen T.V., where the German and the Spaniard somehow found out where we were supposed to go and when the plane took off. It just looked like a bunch of confusing-ass numbers to me, but I sucked at math so it didn't matter. Next, we went to some thingy that weighed our suitcases, just to see if they could stay on the plane or something like that. I wondered what would happen if they were too heavy suddenly, and I got my answer as the lady in front of us was told to take some stuff out and put it in her carry-on. It seemed like a major fucking pain, so I hoped we wouldn't have to do that, and luckily, we didn't.

After that, we went through the most terrifying part of the whole experience. Going through security was hell, especially the part where they made you take off your damn shoes and walk through a damn metal detector thing. Which, of course, went off because of the small metal cross necklace I always wore around my neck. They investigated it and let me go through, not without some dirty looks from me and mumbled cuss words that they didn't seem to appreciate. I met up with the rest of our "group" and pulled my shoes back on, complaining about it all loudly so the fucker security guards could hear.

"Damn assholes, making me take off my fucking shoes and then telling me I have a fucking BOMB in my cross!" I grumbled, while Antonio laughed at me and took my hand. "Bunch of damn assfucking fag bastards…"

I tried not to think of the irony that I was insulting the security guards by calling them fags while holding my boyfriends hand.

Finally to the last part of our airport journey, we went and searched for our terminal, which was luckily right next to another food place, because I was already starving again and plus, Antonio said we all needed to buy lunch for later since plane food was crap. So we took everyone's orders and went to Subway to get some sub sandwiches so we that wouldn't starve. While in the restaurant, I couldn't stop staring at those damn delicious looking chocolate chip cookies, mouth watering and stomach rumbling with desire. Apparently, Antonio had seen me eyeing them, because when he went up to get our lunch, he got us each both a couple cookies too. He took the sandwich bag and handed me my cookies, looking at me smugly.

I returned his look with my own sour one and began to shove the food down my throat, turning away from the person who had bought them for me in the first place.

"So how do you like your first airport experience, Lovi?" he asked, practically forcing me to look over at him without touching me.

Pieces of cookie still in my mouth, I scowled deeper and complained, "Creepy ass old homeless perverts hit on me, the workers make you take your shit out of your suitcase if you have too much, the security people have fucking metal detectors that persecute your damn religion, PLUS they make you take off your shoes like bastards! As if you'd really be hiding something explosive in your freaking SHOE. Oh, yeah, it's fucking better than CANDYLAND."

With a laugh, he reached down to take my hand again, but this time I pushed it away, not wanting everyone here to know that I was… into a guy. He stopped laughing and his smile lost its luster, but he kept on talking, acting like nothing had happened. "Well the airport is always the most aggravating part of the trip! But it'll be worth it, _en el extremo!_ I can't wait to see the ocean again… you've never see it before, have you, _mi amor?_ You won't be disappointed, believe me! It's one of the most incredible…"

I checked out of what he was saying as I swallowed the last bit of my cookie and tried to act like I was still listening to him, hearing the words he said with that mystified and wondrous look on his face as he described the ocean to me. But I just couldn't bear listening to him. He didn't realize what he was doing to me. He didn't realize that I HAD been to the ocean before, that when he'd asked one day, I'd lied to him. I didn't ever want to hear about oceans, lakes, river, seas, or even fucking puddles on the damn street after it rained, not from anybody, even Antonio.

It took me a minute to register that he'd stopped talking and was looking at me, concern swimming in his bright green eyes. He stroked my cheek gently and made me look up to him, asking me, "Are you alright, Lovi? If it's the plane you're worried about, don't be! I've never had a bad experience on one in my life and even if something does happen… I'll protect you with my life."

I pulled away from him and, slightly red, said, "I'm not worried about the plane, damn it! I just… I'm worried about… sharks." It wasn't a total lie, because sharks were vicious bastards with razor sharp teeth, but in another sense it was just a distraction from the God honest truth.

"_Tiburones? _Well... let's just not worry about those, my little Lovi! We aren't even in the water yet!" He laughed and ruffled my hair annoyingly.

I cringed at his words, but his eyes were closed with his laughter, so he didn't see it, thankfully. We made it back to Feli and the potato bastard, who were sitting next to each other and looking a little too comfortable for me to allow. Acting like a dick, I wedged myself in the same seat as my twin just so that I could break them apart and hear Feli squeal that I was squishing him.

_Ve~, _ow, _fratello!_ You're hurting me! Whaaaa, all I wanted was to talk to Wiggie!"

"That's the problem," I told him simply and he sat there and whined a little, but eventually shut up and started playing some hand game with himself.

It was way too damn early for this…

I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes, ready to take a small nap, when an announcement came over the loud speaker and a woman's voice declared that flight 272 to Honolulu, Hawaii was now boarding. My eyes opened slightly and I groaned as I stood up and Antonio handed me a boarding pass. I guess you used it to get on the plane by showing it to the lady by the door, as if the security wasn't enough. These people had more trust issues than me, damn it. They were paranoid assholes, that's what they were.

I went to stand in line and eventually I got to the front, where I showed the young blonde my pass and she stuck it under some scanner, then handed it back, giving me a charismatic grin that I assumed was part of her job description. I decided Antonio could do this job pretty well if all you had to do was check that people were legal to get on the plane and smile at them. Simple and brainless, for the average overly friendly human being. Just like Antonio.

As I walked down the hallway, I started to feel a little bit excited, especially when I actually heard the plane's engines whirring. We walked a little way down a ramp-like place before turning a corner and going through the door to get onto the loudly rumbling aircraft. It was smaller than I had imagined and extremely cramped down the center aisle where people were trying to find their seats and shoving their cargo into the overhead bins above the seats. Antonio and I had tickets in the same row, thank God, so he helped me navigate through without being killed and showed me to my spot, which happened to be a window seat. I turned to him, about to say something, when I saw him frowning at the ticket with displeasure.

"What?" I asked him, annoyed that he wasn't telling me already.

"Well… I actually have the end seat. Down here. Which means someone else is going to have to sit in between us…"

As if on cue, a little fat boy skipped down the aisle energetically, pausing at our section of seats and looking up at the letters with squinting eyes, as if he couldn't see. "Aye, mister!" he said with a New York accent, poking Antonio on the leg. "Is this the row my ticket says?" He shoved it into the surprised Spaniards face.

"Uh… yeah, it does!" he answered, giving the boy a grin. "So, can you not see very well or…?"

"Nah, I can see. I just wanted to do… THIS!" he yelled, shoving the ticket into Antonio's unsuspecting face with both hands.

The bastard started laughing his fat ass off and pulled the ticket away, kicking at his legs so that he would move. Of course, nice as he was, Antonio said nothing and just moved, rubbing his face and looking down at the floor, unsmiling. I lost my temper, which was already short enough and stretched thin as 24 karat gold from the stress of the whole new experience I'd gone through.

"Hey, you fucking fatass, leave him the hell alone or I'll beat the shit out of you," I threatened, narrowing my eyes and gritting my teeth.

He gave me an uninterested, bored look and just scratched his butt, sitting right in between the two of us. Suddenly, he decided that he'd forgotten something or whatever and stood up, his butt right in my face. Unexpectedly, instead of leaving the aisle and harassing Antonio more, he just gave me a sly smile and farted right in my face.

For the longest time, I just sat there with my eyes closed, listening to that motherfucker laugh at me wildly and starting to tremble with my ferocious, newly unleashed anger. This son of a bitch… was going down.

Unable to take it anymore, I grabbed the fucker by his collar and watched with pleasure as his eyes widened with terror. "I hope you're prepared to die young, you fucking son of a bitch, because I'm about to send you straight to HELL!"

Then, of course, he burst into loud, screechy tears that made me drop him in surprise and caused everyone on the plane to look over at us, even Feli and Ludwig, who had somehow managed seats right next to each other, though they were further back in the plane. A small, pretty young stewardess with long, flowing brown hair heard his wails of distress and came over quickly, and asked in a quiet voice, "What's the matter, sir? Is something not to your liking?"

"WHAAAAA! HE TRIED TO KILL ME!" he said, pointing over at me.

I was still standing up, so it didn't really look good, but I had the perfect mask of confusion on my face that somehow made me seem innocent in her eyes. Also, it did help that Antonio spoke on my behalf.

"Actually,_ muchacha hermosa ," _he said, with a predatorily gleam in his eye, "Lovino did nothing that anyone else wouldn't have done. But… he is my cousin, you see, and he has anger issues that could destroy a whole continent if released… so I think it would be best if I were the one to have the middle seat? _¿quizá?" _

She blushed and giggled when he took her hand and kissed it, taking it too damn far, but of course I wouldn't protest against this, damn it all. This was going to help me when it was all over and not get us kicked off the plane. The little boy looked annoyed that he was getting no sympathy, and I had a gut feeling he was going to repeatedly press the "help" button just to get on her fucking nerves. That only made me a LITTLE happy.

"I'll see what I can do," she told MY boyfriend. "Um, sir? Little boy? I need you to trade tickets with this man immediately. His _cousin_," she said it like she knew he was lying, "Has a condition that needs to be monitored and it would be really nice of you to help both of them out."

He gave an obnoxious burp and just stared at her, deciding whether or not complying would give him any benefits. With a shrug, he slid into Antonio's seat, who had gotten up, and looked over at the stewardess, smiling sweetly. Too sweetly, sickly sweet. Enough to make a person puke fucking rainbows and unicorns, sweet. She didn't seem to notice, since she was so distracted by the Spanish man standing next to her, dreaming up some fairytale dreamland that would never come true. Antonio thanked her gratefully and then slid in past the fat kid, giving me a much more breathtaking smile than he'd given the damn stewardess.

She walked away, smiling and flustered, probably thinking that she was in love without realizing Antonio was a high school junior. I'd have to save that little fact for later, when she came back like I knew she would. With the way the fatass was eyeing the button up over his head, she'd be coming back LOTS of times. Antonio was still looking at me with a grin all over his face and I was about to ask him what the hell his problem was when he took my hand in his tightly and then looked down at the floor, like there was something to actually see down there.

Not wanting to hurt his feelings too much, I muttered, "If we're supposed to be cousins, damn it, why are you holding my hand?"

He apparently saw my point and glanced down at our intertwined hands curiously, like he hadn't even realized he'd put it there. Instead of pulling it away, though, he just left it there and smiled wider. "Because you have an anger disorder and holding your hand calms you down!"

"Fucking stupidest lie ever. I do NOT have an anger disorder, you bastard! And holding my hand doesn't do anything!"

He said nothing, just chuckled and looked over warily at the loudly humming child sitting next to him. With a sigh, I glared out the window at the plane's wing as if it were the bane of my existence. All of a sudden, the pilot's voice came over the intercom, but the words were so scratchy, all I could make out was the name Vash. It didn't really matter what his damn name was in my eyes, but when he said that we'd be taking off momentarily, I was actually glad he'd spoken.

Just like he promised, moments later the plane began to move and we sped down the runway, and then took off into the clear, blue sky. As we gained altitude, I felt a weird, somewhat painful pop in my ears that made me grab at them in surprise. I glanced over at Antonio, who was for some reason repeatedly swallowing. He noticed me staring at him and holding my ears, grimacing, and explained what he was doing.

"When you fly, you need to chew gum or swallow so that your ears get used to the pressure." His voice sounded weird and kind of robot-like, a result of the weird altitude gain on my hearing.

I tried it and felt my ears pop again, in a less painful way than the original one. I kept on doing it until, finally, they seemed to go back to how they were as we stopped ascending and leveled out. The pilot made another announcement, but I ignored it and dug in my bag for a.\ book so I could block everything out.

Of course, my plan failed when I fell asleep reading and woke up a couple hours later to find the stewardess standing by our row with a drink cart, asking what we would like to drink. It had been easier to sleep on a plane than Antonio had made it sound. I groggily swiped at my eyes as she poured some for the little fatass bastard child that was sitting with us, as if that was what he needed. Caffeine. Then, with a flirty smile and hair-twirling, she asked my boyfriend what he would like to drink in the most provocative way possible. Little wench.

"Uh… I'll just have water, please," he told her politely, squeezing my hand gently.

Wait, he had been holding my hand the whole time I'd been asleep?

The thought was ripped from my mind as I watched the lady stretch over the kid and somehow manage to get her boobs right in Antonio's face so that she could set the drink down on his tray-table thing. I set my jaw and glared at her threateningly, DARING her to steal my man. She only noticed my malice when she looked over at me, about to ask what I would like. Her words caught in her throat and she looked like she felt a little awkward, as she should have.

"U-uh… what would you like, sir?" she asked me, trembling under my murderous glare.

"Coke." Who knew that word could become a curse word?

With shaking hands, she poured me my little cup and gave it to Antonio to give to me, which instantly pissed me off further.

"What, so you can lean over the damn brat so that you can give Antonio a cleavage show, but you have to hand it to somebody to give to me like I'm some sort of fucking animal? First of all, bitch, he's gay. With me. So you don't stand a chance whether you try to suffocate him with your chest or not. Second, your boobs are obviously fake, so I suggest when you try to woo boys with your fucking female parts, that you don't let them see your nasty ass plastic surgery scars!" Satisfied with my rant, I took a sip of the soda, burning with fury.

Her eyes were massive, like she's just found out her pet rabbit had imploded while she was at school or something. Obviously trying to shake off my attitude, she pushed the cart to the next row, smiling a very fake smile and taking their drink orders. Before she left my sight, I heard her hiss, "They are so NOT fake!"

I spent the rest of the plane ride actually reading and feeling very good about myself, especially when Antonio laughed and whispered that he thought they'd looked fake too. The kid mostly only annoyed the server bitch, so the ride was a bit more enjoyable than I had first thought it would be. Of course, peace could only live so long being trapped up in the sky in a cramped enclosure with an ADHD brother like mine. Feli, though he was at least three rows back from me, was talking so loudly that I was sure everyone in the whole plane could hear his story about how he and I used to be forced to take baths together when we were little by our parents.

If we had been sitting together, I would've smacked him over the head and told him to shut the hell up, but we weren't so I took out my phone and had to TEXT him to shut his mouth. Promptly, he silenced himself and the rest of the trip was spent in silence. When the pilot came over the speakers again, he said we'd be making our descent now into Honolulu, and within seconds of his words the plane headed downward, in a wide, circling motion. My ears didn't pop the way that had going up and the landing was a soft, completely comfortable one. Maybe flying wasn't as bad as most people said it was. We all filed off the plain, slowly but surely and finally, we were walking around a foreign airport, trying to find the way out after getting our stuff.

Antonio had taken the liberty of not only getting us our tickets, but also renting two cars (one for me and him, the other for my brother and his bastard) and also getting us rooms in a really nice hotel. I wondered where he was getting all of the money for this. His job was nice, but it didn't pay THIS much. I'd have to ask him about it later, after we got everything settled. I wasn't sure where he expected me to drive to when I got in the car, but he assured me he knew the way and that Ludwig had been given directions. Which was mostly true.

After we had driven around a little bit, he stopped remembering exactly where to go and just started guessing. It was a bitch too, because we could see the damn hotel towering over, but we couldn't figure out exactly how we were supposed to get in it. For awhile we just circled it, me cussing at Antonio under my breath until we finally found the turn-in and pulled into the parking lot. While I waited in the car, he went to check us in, then came back out, taking the cardkeys and handing one of them to each of us, telling us to try not lose them.

He looked really wound up and excited, his face slightly flushed and his hair blowing wildly in the slight breeze that they had here. I started in surprise when he grabbed my arm and brought me into the hotel forcefully. I could barely contain my surprise when I saw the inside, which was vast and fancy-looking, with a massive breakfast area, a gaming room, a conference section, and a side room which held the biggest pool I'd ever seen, one with a waterfall that fell from the ceiling in a constant stream. In the very center of the room was one of those extremely fancy, lattice-coated things that people got married under, all strewn about with white lace ribbons and lights casting their rays down to where the bride and groom would stand on their day.

I was only allowed a quick glance at the amazing scene in front of me before I was dragged onto one of the three glass elevators and the 18th floor button was pressed hastily. Now that he had calmed down, I got a chance to breathe and grouch at him.

"Why the hell did you have to yank me around?" I asked, looking down on the scene below as we went higher and higher into the air.

He closed the distance between us and kissed me on the lips, a couple of people down on the ground glancing upward at this. If I had cared enough, I would've pushed him away, but I let him get his fill of my mouth before he pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry, my little Lovi… I'm just so excited that we're finally here and I get to spend so much time with you! I didn't think about what I was doing… but wait until you see the room!"

I didn't get a chance to respond to that because just then the doors slid open, revealing our floor. Instead of grabbing my arm, this time Antonio let me walk on my own and led me to a door that said 1808 by it. Inserting his keycard into the door handle, he pulled it back out and the little light turned green, telling us that we could open the door. He did and I was pretty much dumbfounded by the scene I was staring at. It was a huge room, especially for a hotel, with a big white-sheeted bed against the wall that had the most amazing tomato-shaped pillow sitting in the center, a little mini fridge, and a full-fledged kitchen. It even had its own living room and two massive flat screens in the sleeping part of the room and the sitting part. I walked into the bathroom in awe, because I freaking had to pee, and was amazed all over again.

The bathroom was just as impressive as the rest of the hotel, with fancy folded towels, the weirdest looking toilet and sink I'd ever seen, and a very unexpectedly large bathtub, an equally as large shower that could probably fit a couple people in the corner of the room. Complimentary soap, shampoo, conditioner, and bubble bath sat on the pearly white counter, just waiting to be used. Suddenly, I realized that the soap bar was actually shaped like a heart, which made me feel awkward after I peed and washed my hands. Then I realized why this room was like this, with the heart-shaped soap, the big bed and bathtub and shower for more than one person.

Damn it, I was going to kill that bastard! He was in a hurry to die, apparently, because the reason the room was that way was because this was a suite. A HONEYMOON suite. For people who had just gotten MARRIED. Embarrassed by his actions, I turned bright red and stomped out of the bathroom, intending on complaining, but I found him lying on the bed in blood red swimming trunks and a thin, white t-shirt, his eyes closed and his face the perfect expression of peaceful.

"You damn bastard…" I muttered, sure he knew I was pissed and was feigning sleep to get out of my yelling.

Unexpectedly, his eyes popped open and he sat up quickly, looking at me with a playful shine to his eyes. "I don't see what I did to deserve that, Lovi!" With little effort, he stood up and walked over to the window, pulling back the blinds to reveal a large, shining body of water that seemed to stretch endlessly on passed the horizon.

I shivered inwardly.

"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked, getting all dreamy-eyed and happy again. "C'mon, let's go swimming, my little Lovi!"

Suddenly, my shivers were racking my whole body, inward and outward, and of course, he noticed it. Damn it all. As an excuse to get out of the room, I went to my suitcase and grabbed my swimming suit, hastily running into the bathroom before he could ask any questions. I pulled it on quickly and came back out, scowling at him before throwing my pants in my bag and stomping out the door.

He caught up to me easily, carelessly sliding our fingers together as we walked towards the elevator. I felt uncomfortable, in every sense of the word, walking through the place holding hands with a guy and going to the… we were going to go swimming. In the ocean. My stomach turned uneasily, leaving me with an almost nauseous feeling. For a second, I really thought I was going to throw up. Out of nowhere, a warm hand came and felt my forehead, and didn't seem pleased with the results, because it slid away.

"Are you feeling okay, _mi amor?_" Antonio asked as we reached the first floor. "Maybe we should just wait until tomorrow…"

"I'm fine, damn it!" To myself I muttered, "I just want to get this fucking over with…"

I was satisfied to find that he hadn't heard a word I'd said, was just looking over at me with uncertainty about the whole thing. He looked like he was really worried about me though, which made me feel like an ass for even thinking the words. I could suck it up and I would. No matter how sick being near large bodies of water made me feel, I would fucking do it for him… because making him feel bad made me feel even worse than I already felt.

"Would you smile already, you overprotective bastard?" I asked in my lightest tone.

That made him laugh, like it always seemed to, and he stopped being a damn worrywart and started to babble about how we should have figured out where Feli and Ludwig are so we could have brought them with us. I said nothing to this, solely for the reason that I was happy as HELL that they weren't coming. If people had to find out about this fucking little fear of mine, I didn't want an audience. We took the elevator down and went out to the car, where my brother and his boyfriend were nowhere to be found, thank God. The sun was shining hotly, and for any normal person, a day at the beach would have sounded heavenly. To me it just sounded nasty and sweaty as hell. After looking for them by the two vehicles, Antonio pulled me away from them and started walking the opposite direction.

"Hey, where the hell are we going?" I asked, a little annoyed. "The cars are over there, you know."

"Si, Lovi, but you can't get to the part of the beach we're going to by car! You have to walk around the hotel and a little ways after that, but it really is a short walk!"

His version of "short walk" turned out to be about two or three miles from the hotel, and by the time we got to the white, finely sanded beach, I was panting and gasping for air, sweat drenching through my t-shirt. It pissed me off that Antonio seemed unaffected by the long walk AND the afternoon sun, which was sending down heavy rays on us. Barely any sweat coated his forehead, and even the tiny bit of sweat which DID show through his shirt… he just made it look sexy, damn it! Childishly, I wanted to stick my tongue out at the hot bastard, but I just collapsed onto the ground, too exhausted to do anything mean, obnoxious, or crude like I usually would have.

I heard him sit beside me, the sand shifting under him. I looked up from my face buried in the ground to find him digging through his swimming trunks. That seemed like a weird habit of his, putting stuff in his pants and then just sticking his hands in there, not caring who was there to see or anything. Well, here, I was the only one who actually was there to see, but still. It was fucking weird. And this time, unlike when he'd pulled the gun out, he didn't have underwear on. I stared at him suspiciously as he grinned, finding whatever it was he'd been looking for and pulling it out for me to see.

Oh, it was just sunblock. I guess it made sense, the fact that we were in Hawaii and the sun was vibrant. I hadn't even thought about it, but with my paler complexion, I'd probably burn easily. It'd happened before, in less extreme conditions. He tried to hand it to me, but I stared at it warily as it came toward my hand. It had been in his PANTS. When I didn't take it right away, he started being an irritating bastard, poking me on the arm with the bottle. After a few seconds of that, I grit my teeth angrily and snatched it away. Luckily, it was the spray on kind that you didn't have to rub in, so I just doused my legs and face quickly, and then handed it back to him, the soft sand now sticking to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him take of his shirt in a slow, dramatic way that made me wonder if he knew I was looking. Then he sprayed himself with it, his skin going from glowing to absolutely shining in two seconds flat. His dark hair was a little sweaty on the part near his forehead and it was starting to curl somewhat, and his full, white grin contrasted with the tanned color of his skin, making him look even hotter than before. Sometimes he made me hate my life. I stopped watching, unable to take any more of what looked like he was posing for a photo shoot and put my face back into the sand, more envious than I would have liked to admit.

I heard him amble back over and set the bottle of sunblock down next to me. When it went silent for a second, I thought he had just frozen, but when I opened my eyes to check, he was lying down right beside me, his face only inches from mine. I felt my heart started pounding, from shock and… well, I was happy to see him, I guess. A light blush creeped its way across my face as he leaned in closer to me. I thought he was going to kiss me, but I was surprised to find him only leaning his head against my shoulder, eyes closed. I almost expected him to purr, he looked so much like a satisfied cat right now, but he made no noise. Just listened to the sound of the rising and falling water and scared the hell out of me, making me tense with wonder about what he was doing. He let out a small sigh of contentment and opened his eyes, startling me with how vibrantly green they looked with the sun hitting them from the side. Like emeralds, or fresh green grass in the spring, or even lit lanterns strewn across a walkway, glowing in the middle of a cold, dark night, bringing security and warmth to anyone who saw them… I couldn't believe this. I even shocked myself. I sounded SO fucking gay right now!

With a defeated grunt, I dropped my face back to the sand again, where it belonged. It was burning with embarrassment from my own thoughts, which somehow snuck up on me, even though it was MY HEAD. I felt Antonio's hand go to my chin and he forced me, gently, but still forced, to look up again, even though my face was sandy and red. He stroked my cheek, brushing the sand away, but reddening me further.

"You're so cute, Lovi!" he told me and I gave him the best growl I could manage, which sent him laughing. Pulling me up with him, he stood and then threw me into his arms like he always seemed to, carrying me like I was his bride. That's probably what the damn bastard thought of me as, which distracted me temporarily from what he was doing. I noticed at the last minute, right when we were on the edge of the water, the tide striking against the Spaniards ankles fiercely. In terror, I yelped and struggled against his hold, trying to get away, my eyes wide and my heart pounding with my insane fear. Nothing but thoughts for saving my life were going through my mind, and I barely registered it when I scratched Antonio across the face, my nails raking across his flesh.

He didn't say anything, but dropped me in painful surprise and watched, confused, as I fell into the shallow water and ran like hell back to the beach, as far away from the shoreline as I could get, gasping shakily, my hand over my heart and tears starting to form in the corners of my eyes. He had… he'd almost…

This time I didn't hear Antonio come up beside me, but lashed at him like a caged animal when he tried to touch me, until I realized what I was doing. He looked so hopelessly lost and confused, blood dripping in a line right across one of his eyes where I had dug my nails into his skin.

"I-I'm sorry, Lovi." His voice sounded sad and weary, like he thought it was because I didn't want him to touch me.

I crossed my arms and looked crossly away from him. "I-It's not your fault, damn it! Don't apologize! I just…. can't swim," I finally said, the tears that had been forming in my eyes deciding to fall then.

He started and then, slowly, a new grin made itself onto his face. "Is that all it is, my little Lovi? I'd be happy to teach you," he told me, his voice getting a little deeper at the end.

"It's not just that though. I c-can't swim and I'm fucking terrified of water, okay? I didn't want to come to Hawaii because I knew what the hell we were going to most of the time and I didn't want to ruin it for anybody else by being a pussy that can't even go near water without crying!" I couldn't stop the tears now, they were swamping me. "Damn it, you bastard, why did you have to choose Hawaii?" I sobbed to him, feeling weak, vulnerable, and more than defeated.

He blinked a couple times, having a hard time registering all this. Suddenly, his expression changed and he was holding me tightly in his arms, letting me get it all out of my system. His warm hand stroked my hair gently, carefully avoiding my curl noticeably. He was humming to me, like I was a small crying child and he was a loving father…. Wanting to rid myself of feeling like a kid, I hugged him back, as hard as I could. I knew from his small gasp that I had taken him off guard, grabbing onto him like that.

"L-Lovi_? Lo siento extremadamente, mi amor…_ I really am. But I will make it up to you somehow, _cruce mi corazón! _However you want me to, I'll make it up to you…" With that, he leaned down as I looked up to him and pressed his soft lips against mine, my crying suddenly halted.

Somehow, he tasted like something sugary and sweet instead of sweat and salt, like I was sure I did. He didn't seem to mind, even if that was true. In fact, he was kissing me eagerly, probably because, for once, I was kissing back just as intensely, his hair knotting between my fingers. He slid his hand further down, over my butt, taking advantage of the moment, but I didn't care. Finding that he could touch me without being killed, he let his hand trail over my body, causing my skin to prickle and me to shiver with pleasure. I even allowed him to do something I never had before; stick his hand down my pants. He slid it down slowly, grabbing me…

"BOWCHICKAWOWOW!" A shockingly way-too-familiar voice hollered.

Antonio paused, frozen in place like a kid who was caught doing something wrong. I, however, had a different reaction. I shoved him away hastily, wiping at my eyes and mouth, furious. I looked over to see what asshole had interrupted us so that I could tell him the fuck off, and staring egotistically at the two of us was none other than Gilbert, his bird stuck to his head like it was glued on there. Beside him were Francis, Matthew, and some guy I didn't know with brown hair, glasses, and a curl that was similar to mine.

Antonio looked completely shocked and a little bit annoyed, too. I was thoroughly pissed at the bastard for showing up and ruining one of the most intimate moments we'd ever had. Did he ALWAYS show up just to ruin our relationship?

"Damn son of a bitch…" I grumbled, glaring at him.

"The awesome me has come!" Gilbert announced, though we all already knew he was there.

The guy I'd never met before stared at Gilbert and told him, "That was extremely rude."

The albino man looked irritated by this comment and cheeped defiantly. I noticed in mild shock that the small, yellow bird was wearing mini swimming trunks. "The awesome me is NOT rude!" he claimed, "Just outgoing and loud! It makes me awesomer!"

Francis raised an eyebrow and asked, "What if Rodrick is right and you are just obnoxious and rude?"

"The un-awesome Rodrick has a stick lodged up in his slightly awesome butt!" Gilbert decided.

Matthew, who hadn't said a word this whole time, looked very frustrated by the comment about Rodrick's butt. He looked a little sad and betrayed, but still remained as quiet and to the side as ever. Sometimes it was like he wasn't even there at all.

More than irritated now, I decided this wasn't worth my time. Whatever I'd felt before those idiots had showed up was gone now. "Fuck this…" I grumbled, turning around and walking away, planning on just going back to the hotel to watch T.V.

"Lovi, wait!" Antonio's voice sounded so desperate I had to glance back at him. He was holding an arm out for me to come back, his eyes pleading, begging me not to go with an almost visible tension.

I only looked for a few more seconds before turning around again and stalking away, flushed and bothered about what I'd let him do and what his friends had come in and seen. Before I was out of earshot, I heard Antonio hissing angry words in his native tongue, which sounded almost like silk coming from his mouth. I hoped he was cussing them out for breaking up what could have been something… something… there was no word to describe it. Just that I had finally let him have my heart and they had sabotaged it, ruined it. They had come in when I was vulnerable, and that made the seething embarrassment and anger that much worse.

No adjective could describe it.

Just as I was about to climb over the hill on the far side of the beach, headed back to where we had come from, I ran face first into Feli, who had been running down the thing in excitement. He took me off my feet, and we went sprawling down the hill, arms and legs tangled up together in a giant mess of flesh, me screaming profanities the whole way down. As we finally stopped at the bottom, I heard Feli giggling like a major asshole.

"What the hell is so funny about this?" I asked him, trying to untangle myself.

"_Ve~!_ That was fun, _fratello!_" he told me, also trying to stand up.

We managed to get our limbs apart, and I was about to growl something at him and walk away, but as I tried, I realized something a little too late. Our hair curls had gotten stuck together. Since I had already begun moving in the opposite direction of him, they both ended up being yanked painfully hard, especially when I tripped over my own feet in surprise, bringing both of us back down to the ground. He landed on top of me with a thud, a weird noise coming from his throat.

Or at least I THOUGHT it was him. With a start, I realized that in reality, it had been ME, doing that weird "chigii" thing that seemed to happen when… whenever my hair got pulled. My face was burning and Feli was still laying on me, which was making me feel weird, so I tried to push him off and we both ended up on our backs, our hair knotted together impossibly. Antonio, who had heard my shriek, had come over to the situation like the noise was some sort of mating call to him. Damn bastard probably thought it was…

Ludwig was standing at the top of the hill with the most bewildered expression on his face, a mix of confusion and something else… When Antonio came over, though, he slid down over to us to talk to him. Angrier than before, not wanting anyone, especially him, to see me like this, I struggled to at least sit up, but Feli erupted uncontrollably from me again and I closed my eyes as certain feelings began to flow through my body. This time even Feli made a noise, but it sounded less like a word and more like a squeak or moan.

Ludwig and Antonio came up with a plan to get us both standing so they could untie our hair and we could live our lives not connected by inappropriate places. Simultaneously, they both grabbed our arms and pulled up, Feli and I coming up easily and swiftly into their arms. Then, holding us there, they began to work on the massive knot that had been formed, mostly because damn Feli wouldn't move when I moved, the bastard. Neither of them knew exactly what to do, which was bluntly obvious when the first thing they tried was gently separating the two of us.

It didn't go over well with me or my brother, because both of them were ripping little pieces of our hair from being connected, pulling on them every single time. My face was flushed, red coating every inch of it, and my whole body felt hot, which was in no way helped by the fact that I was leaning against Antonio's chest right now, encircled by his arms. I had finally managed to stop saying chigii every time they got another hair out, but the fact that it got more and more hot with every strand didn't change, and by the time they were almost done, I was clinging to Antonio, pulling him closer and closer against me.

The same went for Feli, who was smushed against that damn potato bastard, blushing like a madman, but staying completely silent. He would be so lucky, the asshole. I was definitely not as quiet, little gasps and other sensual noises freeing themselves from my throat, making me even more embarrassed to be alive. Antonio would give an almost silent chuckle with every grunt, groan, or moan I voiced, which I felt more than I heard. When I thought I couldn't take one more second of this horrible, yet somehow sexual, torture, they finally pulled the last strands away and freed both of us from Hell.

At first, I barely recognized that they had finished, since my eyes were closed and I was looking away from the scene. But when Antonio moved his hands to wrap around me, to hold me in the spot I was in, I realized I was free. I considered just staying in his arms for a moment, and then tried to push him away, feeling tired of all this shit and weirdly hesitant, almost… shy. He held me hard where I was, not even giving me the chance to pull away from him this time, his lips meeting mine with a kind of urgency that scared me a little. This had happened once before, a long time ago when I'd been shot and was in the hospital… he'd kissed me just like this.

Though I would never admit this to anyone if they ever asked me, which if they did I would have to kick their ass, but despite the terrifying way he held me and pressed his lips against my own, I was just a little bit, just BARELY, turned on by it, the rough behavior towards me. I blamed that on the fact that my hair had been pulled not five seconds ago and I was still feeling the effects of it. He was taking advantage of that, just like he had taken advantage of me before, and I wasn't about to stand here and take it this time. Then, I'd been distracted by my fear and had been longing for his comfort. Now, he was just being a horny bastard, as usual.

Putting all my force into it, I brought my knee up and slammed it right in between his legs.

His reaction was just what I'd hoped for; he stopped kissing me and inhaled sharply, in a gasping way and his face reddened with his agony. Then he released me and reached for his privates in pain, his eyes squidged shut.

"Take your perverted ass fantasies to someone who cares, you damn bastard!" I yelled, hating the guilt that filled me as I stalked down the beach, not wanting to go back to the hotel where he could find me anymore.

Feli and Ludwig had gone over to where Gilbert, Francis, Matthew, and Rodrick were before I'd hit Antonio, so the sounds of their laughter rose up over the land as they splashed into the water and just hung out, having fun. I hated them so fucking much. It was all of their faults that this had happened in the first place, just breaking in on MY vacation and ruining it! This was supposed to just be for me and Antonio… it was our almost-one-year anniversary gift… and I had just busted the balls of the man who had taken me on this trip in the first place.

Painful realization made me turn my head back to where Antonio had been standing… but now he was gone. Heavier guilt than before pressed down on me and I sank down into the sand, thinking finally how much of a bastard I always was to him. And he had repaid all the kind smiles, loving laughter, and affection he was given with what? Vicious cussing, coldness, and well… violence. Not that he didn't have it coming sometimes, but trying to be nicer wouldn't have hurt… I looked down at the sand below me, wishing that he would forgive me and just show up already.

"There you are, my Lovi!" a cheerful voice called, walking up.

Completely off guard, I looked up to see that white grin beaming down at me, those green eyes eager, and his whole face just one, big picture of happiness. Emotionally charged, I flung myself off the ground and at him, pulling him into a crushing hug, the only kind I knew how to give.

"I love you, fucking bastard…" I told him.

He returned my hug in a less bone-crushing manor and laughed softly in my ear. "I know, _mi amor_. I love you, too, and I'm very sorry that I did something to anger you, even if I'm still not sure what it was."

"You kissed me like a complete psychopath! I thought you were going to eat my whole damn FACE OFF!" I told him, and then reluctantly added, "Not that that was any reason to do what I did… I-I'm s-s-s…" Why was this one word so damn hard to SAY? "I didn't mean to hurt you." What the HELL? You didn't freaking RACK someone because you don't mean to hurt them. Pissed off at my own inability to speak, I just quickly muttered as fast as I could, "Sorry!"

With another low chuckle, he whispered, "You don't have to apologize to me… it may have hurt, but I'll still love you no matter how much you inflict injuries on me! Now, come on, our friends… they want us to come. But later Lovi…" His eyes brightened. "Later, we'll finally be alone…" he trailed off suggestively and took my hand, bringing me over to where everyone else was, splashing each other and acting like total immature idiots.

Luckily, someone had thought to bring beach towels, though I still had no clue who, and I sat down on one gratefully, in the shade of a massive palm tree, where both Ludwig, who was calmly staring out at the sea, and that Rodrick guy, who was reading a book, were already at. I didn't like being forced to sit next to either of them, but it was better than getting near the water, so I just laid back and looked at the clouds, trying to depict an image from them all. I found a tomato easily, an igloo, which was harder to find and ironic when you thought about where we were, and a sombrero. Just as I found one that I thought looked like a heart, Ludwig got up, leaving me alone with a stranger, looking at a cloud shaped like a symbol of love. I sat up anxiously, watching him as he went over to Feli, who splashed him, giggling like a little girl. Gilbert was mauling Francis, who was fighting back just as fiercely, while Matthew just stood there and watched, trying to calm them down but being ignored. Antonio was staring off into the horizon, looking very lonely with no friends around him, yet satisfied with where he was.

I could barely believe the thought that sunk through my head then._ Maybe you should go in too…_ Quickly, I shook it away, reminding my stupid brain of why I absolutely hated water in the first place. After all, not being able to swim had been CAUSED by my fear of anything larger than a bathtub, not the reason why I didn't like it period. Going in the water would only resurface the memory I had of that day, the day when my father had tried to drown me…

"Aren't you ever going to go in?" said the man next to me, not looking away from his book. "It's awfully hot to not be in the water."

I looked over at him, surprised by his talking. "It's not like you're in the damn water," I said sulkily.

He did glance up at me then, over the rim of his glasses. "That's true, but I'm here for two purposes. One, I'm reading a very good book and putting it down would be a little difficult. Two, if I went in, Gilbert would sexually assault me. I would rather be boiling on the shore enjoying a good book than cooling off in the water where I would more than likely have my butt or something else touched… by someone who is already dating another man, nonetheless. That's my reason for not being there. But what about you?"

I couldn't tell if his question was rhetorical or not, so I said nothing. I just stared at the people before me, enjoying themselves immensely while I sat here and burned to death. For a long time I considered whether or not it was smart to try to get over my fear and go in, or if I should just let them have their fun and stay. Almost against my will, I stood up and started walking over to the water, waves careening against the shore and then somehow mystically pulling away again, just to begin the constant cycle over and over again. I made it to the edge, right in front of where the water lapped, before I froze in deep-rooted terror.

Somehow, Antonio's head perked up right and that moment, and he turned, like he could sense me. He saw me standing at the water's edge, looking longingly out at where everyone else was. Concerned eyes turned to warm ones, and he walked over, holding his arms out for me to jump into. He was going to hold me so I wouldn't have to try and swim on my own. With him around, I wouldn't have to think about drowning, and as I hopped into his embrace and put my arms around his shoulders, I knew I was safe here.

Feli noticed that I was finally in and waved, which I responded to with a scowl. As usual, he ignored me and went back to playing around with Ludwig, who was really doing nothing but being splashed by my brother patiently. Gilbert and Francis had stopped attacking each other and now were taking turns dunking poor Matthew into the water as far as they could. The Canadian didn't seem to be enjoying himself much, but it was keeping them from being complete idiots, which was most likely what he was going for.

I felt my body start shaking as Antonio took me deeper and deeper, until I knew I wouldn't be able to take it if he went even a step further. "Stop."

He stopped and I felt the water brushing coldly around me, causing me to shake even more. With no hesitation at all, Antonio started going back to the shallower waters, back to where it was waist deep for him and a lot warmer. "Lovi, I'm going to put you down now," he said suddenly.

I looked at him with terror, feeling my stomach roll sickeningly. "Don't put me down, damn it! Please do not fucking put me down."

"But Lovi, I…" he started, but he never did get to finish, because suddenly a yell of pure joy came from right by us and we were slammed down into the water, his grip on me releasing with the impact.

Out of nowhere, I was floating down in the water, my eyes open and burning as salt water invaded them. In shock, I tried to gasp, but I ended up sucking in anything but air, and was coughing and sputtering, only letting more water into my lungs. I flailed my limbs, helplessly trying to swim when I knew that I couldn't. I just sunk deeper and deeper in the water, until I hit the sandy bottom, my brain shutting down from lack of oxygen… I blacked out.

When I came back into consciousness, the first thing I heard was everyone's concerned whispering and I was distracted by that until heavy hands came down onto my chest hard, slamming upward and a sweet tasting breath was blown into my mouth. My eyes snapped open as the air came flying out of my chest, along with a massive spout of water that tasted salty and disgusting, scratching my throat painfully. I sat up quickly, narrowly missing smacking heads with Antonio, and puked up another mountain of water, right onto Gilbert's bare feet.

He let out a shriek and jumped back, saying something like, "EEEEWW! The unawesomeness just got unawesomerer!"

I blinked a couple times, my eyes burning and tearing up, and looked around to see everyone looking at me, worried looks on all their faces, especially Feli, who was crying, and Antonio, who had been the one giving me CPR. When I glanced over at him and sputtered up a little more water, he put his hand over his heart in relief and muttered something swiftly in Spanish, something I couldn't understand or hear. Out of nowhere, an annoying Italian flung himself at me, wailing words that were almost incomprehensible.

"WHAAAAA! LOVI!I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" Feli sobbed into my shirt, hugging me tightly.

I felt exhausted and irritable, but I let him hug me and said, my voice barely coming out, "I'm not." It hurt to speak and my hand flew up to my throat in surprise. It was like someone had taken a flamethrower to my vocal chords.

"_Gracias, _Feli, but I think he needs some rest for now, _mi amigo. _I'm going to take him back, okay?"

Feli gave a small nod, hugged me again, and let go, going over to cling to Ludwig, clearly still distressed. Antonio came over to me and surprised me by sitting awkwardly between my legs instead of just picking me up bridal style like he had so many other times. Slowly getting what he wanted me to do, I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, feeling his hands come up under my butt, to the high part of my thighs. With an impressive amount of strength, he managed to pull us both up, our combined weight pulling him back a little. He started to walk away, and stopped only to throw the nastiest face I'd ever seen him make at Gilbert, who actually looked taken by surprise, speechless fro once. Then, as soon as it had happened, it was over again and he was carrying me up the hill.

I'd never known he had such amazing stamina as he lugged me all those miles we had walked before, not pausing a second as he did. Sweat was pouring off his body everywhere, but again it looked completely sexy, instead of unattractive and gross, like it would on anyone else. As he gave me a piggyback ride through the Hawaii streets, people stopped and stared, some random girls even taking pictures, giggling wildly. I was too tired to yell at them like I would have if I hadn't almost drowned, but inside my head was like a cuss word parade. Antonio just ignored them, focused solely on getting me back to the hotel where I would be safe.

If he was tiring, he never let me know it, and didn't put me down when we got to the hotel, but only when we were in the confines of our room, where he set me lightly down on the bed with a sigh, and lay down next to me, taking my hand. For the longest time, we both just laid there, holding hands and panting, every breath like being stabbed repeatedly to me. Finally, my eyes slipped closed and I was brought into the most vivid dream world I'd ever been in before.

When I woke up the sun no longer beaming through the curtains, my limbs were again tangled with another person's, but this time, it was someone who I actually didn't MIND being stuck against. His face was right next to mine, cold sweat keeping his hair perfectly curled, his eyes shut with peaceful dreaming. I swallowed convulsively, and felt that my throat was doing a little better, though it still was like it had been scraped raw. I tried to untangle myself from Antonio without waking him up, which thankfully succeeded, and then headed to the bathroom, ready to shower. I felt nasty and probably smelled pretty disgusting too. As I grabbed some new underwear and headed in, I spotted the time on the clock.

1:30 a.m. Slightly surprised, I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, yawning. I waited for the water to be the right temperature and then hopped in, closing the shower door behind me sleepily. I washed all of the gunk out of my hair and was about to get to the body washing part, when Antonio walked into the bathroom, taking me off guard. Normally, I probably would have cussed at him and kicked him out, but I was too tired for that and he seemed to be a little exhausted himself.

"Lovi?" he asked. "I know that you're tired, but… can I shower with you?" His voice was wavering and shy, like he expected a no.

"I don't fucking care…" I muttered truthfully. No, not entirely truthfully, because if I had been, I would have just said yes.

I watched, unable to take my eyes away for some unknown reason, as he stripped down nothing and came in with me, his eyes bright, but the circles under them dulling the light they seemed to bring. I handed him the shampoo so that he could wash his hair, which he did, and blushed, looking away when he smiled at me because I was staring at him. Wordlessly, he took the soap from my hand, which I had been too distracted to use, and kissed me, my lips tingling from the pressure. The bar slipped from his hand and we both watched as it slid down to the other end of the shower... and then he kissed me again, holding me gently in his arms while he did it. It took me a moment to realize his lips seemed to be falling lower and lower on my body every time, having started at my lips and now being somewhere on my chest. He kept going further and further down… until he was right at my waist, where he stopped, taking me up in his arms, kicking the shower off, and bringing me into the bed, where he finished the job he had started.

This time, I let him give me all he had.

The rest of the trip went surprisingly well, without a sign of Gilbert and his "friends" again, and I got to do a lot of things that I had never done before, which was just as much fun as it was a bitch. Feli got to do the hula dancing he had always wanted to, complete with coconut bra and grass skirt, and we went to a real luau, just for the hell of it. We got to drink guava juice and eat extremely delicious pancakes for breakfast almost every morning, which always started my day off well. When Feli said something about snorkeling one day, Antonio and I just went shopping all day, while Ludwig and he watched all the fucking fish swim around. There was an amazing amount of stuff to do there and we did about as much as we could before, finally, the vacation ended, and we had to head home.

I was surprised to find myself not wanting to go back, to find I had actually had FUN for once in my life, and as the plane took off and left the island paradise behind, I felt a twinge of sadness. As I stared regrettably out the window, Antonio leaned over and whispered in my ear, something that lightened my heart of its burden. Something that brought a rare smile to my face.

"Don't worry, Lovi… someday, we'll go back again. I swear to you."


End file.
